Another Time, Another Place
by ParanoiA
Summary: Complete. An almost novel-length piece bringing Kuja of FF9 to the world of FF7. Slash, angst and character death. Pairings include Cloud/Aeris, Vincent/Tifa, Yuffie/Reno, Kuja/Sephiroth, Rufus/Tseng. Mildly AU. Feedback would be appreciated.
1. Default Chapter

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Another Time, Another Place

Authors Notes- An almost novel-length Final Fantasy crossover bringing Kuja to the world of FF7 as another threat appears. Features several pairings, along with the return of some characters I was too sentimental to kill off. Feedback would be greatly appreciated as I spent a long time working on this- it ran to over 50 pages of tiny font in the end. I apologise for any details which may be wrong within this fic. I haven't played either game recently.

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Pairings- Sephiroth x Kuja, Cloud x Aeris, Vincent x Tifa, Rufus x Tseng, Reno x Yuffie.

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Disclaimers- I own none of the characters mentioned hither. Contains slash, angst, swearing, violence and character death.

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Edit- Upon a friend's advice, I have broke this up into several chapters. I personally dislike reading multi-chaptered novels, but as it was this story was a little too intimidating. Thanks to Jao Maxwell and Goddess of Light for renewing my faith in fanfiction.net. I was getting rather disillusioned after no-one had reviewed this in days *mwah*.

The early morning sun was a faint pink, blushing across the dawn sky and tumbling through the windows of a small and pleasant home near the coastline of Costa Del Sol. It faintly illuminated the room nearest to the sea, and danced across a sleeping face. A dark dusting of lashes flickered across a pale cheek, and ruby eyes opened and gazed sleepily upward.

Tifa yawned and lay for a few minutes, bathed in the soft pink light. The only sound was the soft suck and release of the tide not far from where she lay. After a few moments, she slid from the tangled sheets and padded softly across the wooden floor. The scorching heat was less noticeable at this early hour and she wandered out onto the balcony, enjoying the cool air. It had been five years since Sephiroth's defeat now, she mused. Once he had died, there had not been immediate relief. No perfect bliss, no slipping back into happy, normal lives. They had gone through too much to ever be the same again.

Yuffie had flourished. Young enough to spring back after the horrors she had faced, she had blossomed into a beautiful young lady and an adept warrior. Reluctantly returning to Wutai, she had taken over as the ruler and under her care the town had grown into an independant settlement, no longer relying on Shinra or tourism. Thanks to Cloud, really. He had seen the miles of lush green land that lay unused around Wutai and given Yuffie his stable of Chocobos. With a little advice, Wutai had a flourishing industry, breeding tough Chocobos for travel and racing. Yuffie still travelled the world, adding to her already excellent materia collection. She visited Tifa and Cloud frequently and seemed cheerful enough.

Barret and Marlene had moved to Corel Town. There were too many bad memories lingering in Midgar for them to make a fresh start. The end of Shinra lead to a massive demand for coal, which Corel Town was happy to fill. Under Barret's command, they had become a flourishing town and it had been slowly rebuilt. Marlene was thankfully young enough to remember little of those dark days, except for a strong memory of when "The Flower Lady" had come to save them all. Barret had been unhappy, troubled by the memories of all those he had killed. But slowly, time had healed. He had Marlene to look after and a town to rebuild. And now, he and his daughter seemed content enough.

Vincent.. Tifa mused. No-one had really seen him much. He didn't say where he lived, although she had a sneaking suspicion that he spent a lot of time lingering around a beautiful lonely waterfall, clinging onto guilty memories. He would never change.

Cid? He had been the luckiest of all, perhaps. He'd finally started treating Shera with some decency and much to everyone's amazement, they were a happy couple, despite frequent bickerings. They even had a troupe of small children running around their home in Rocket Town. Cid claimed they drove him up the wall and spent long hours tinkering in his workshop to get away from them all, but he was a good father according to Shera. Even if he couldn't tell their children apart.

Red XIII seemed to be coping, although not particularly well. He spent long, lonely days roaming Cosmos Canyon ceaselessly, searching for enemies under Seto's stone gaze. No monster dared come near the little town now. He seemed happy to be defending his home and fulfilling his duty, but Tifa thought there was something a little sad in his obsessive hunts for dangerous creatures. Perhaps if there was another of his kind around..

And that left Cloud and herself. A somewhat touchy area. The year after Sephiroth died had been.. hell. Cloud had wandered the world, searching vainly for a trace of Aeris. Tifa privately thought it was useless and the Cetra had moved on. But she followed faithfully, helping wherever she could. Then at last Cloud, half-insane, had given up on chasing a ghost and they had by an unspoken decision decided to share a house near Costa Del Sol. Slowly, Cloud had gone back almost to his old self and rented a small shop where he sold finely crafted weapons he made in the evenings. Tifa sold materia she gathered during her long Chocobo rides around the continent and they co-existed happily enough. But Tifa knew that when Sephiroth's sword had pierced Aeris, it had driven a deeper wound into Cloud's heart. Maybe he had loved Aeris, maybe he hadn't. Either way, she knew that the love that had once started to grow had been extinguished that day and would never be relit again.

Still, they were quite happy. She dressed quickly and left the little house. "Morning, Storm," She greeted the black Chocobo that raced anxiously around its field. He had been a gift from Yuffie when she last visited and Tifa was quite attached to the little bird. "Got nothing for you," She apologised, scratching his soft dark feathers. "Want to go for a run?" She needed to dispel the faintly unhappy memories that had been stirred up.

__

"Waaark!" Storm pressed against the side of the fence eagerly. Tifa smiled and opened the gate. She knew her Chocobo well enough to have no need for saddle or rein and she sprang up onto his slippery warm back. "Come on then," She clicked her tongue and the Chocobo bounded out of the field and jogged eagerly down the path leading to the beach.

It was secluded here, none of the tourists that inhabited the beach further down and Tifa leant forward as Storm's strides lengthened and he stretched out eagerly. She nudged him gently into full speed. The wind stung her ruby eyes and brought a taste of salt to her lips as the golden sand and cerulean seas blurred around her. Storm was one of the fastest Chocobo ever born and he loved to run. Here, was peace, with only the drumbeats of Storm's feet and the rushing of the wind. Tifa's long loose hair streamed out behind her as she clung tight and low onto Storm's warm back and felt the troubling thoughts slip from her mind and be blown away on the wind they generated. Lost in speed, it was perhaps ten minutes before she straightened up and gently brought Storm back down to a steady jog.

"We've come a long way," She murmured, eyeing the landscape. Storm jogged, still eager below her. "Back home now," She gently chastised him and he turned round and began the long walk back. Tifa leaned back, the sun just beginning to scorch her bare shoulders slightly and the day brightening around them.

Cloud was just stirring as they returned. She thanked Storm with a handful of mimmet greens and turned him loose in the large field. He could easily jump out if he wished, but Chocobos usually bonded for life with their owners. Tifa entered their home and was sat brushing the wind's tangles from her long dark hair when Cloud got up, his spiky hair mussed with sleep.

"Morning," He greeted her as he collapsed into a chair. "Been out?"

Tifa nodded. "We went all the way down to where I found that Contain Materia last year," 

"That far?" Cloud raised an eyebrow. "You should be more careful, I don't want you getting attacked and there's all sorts of monsters down there.."

Tifa smiled. "And you know that Storm can outrun every one of them. Besides, I'm not exactly helpless," 

"I know, I know," Cloud smiled ruefully. He knew he'd never have defeated Sephiroth without Tifa's deadly kicks and spell casting abilities. "I can't help worrying though, after all that's happened.." His voice faded away and Tifa knew instantly what was on his mind. Would he ever stop blaming himself for Aeris's death?

"Coffee?" She changed the subject and the day progressed as usual. She managed their little store whilst he fiddled with weapons round the back. It was a pretty uneventful day, one or two friends in the area calling in to speak to her. It was perhaps 2pm when he re-appeared.

"What do you think?" He asked, raising a finely-crafted metal shuriken. Tifa could see at a glance how the razored edges would cut through bone and hide. 

"It's lovely," She said, admiring the metal inlays. "For Yuffie...?" She smiled, knowing he had not made this weapon to sell.

"It's her birthday soon," Cloud smiled. "And she needs something to defend herself with- did you know she's been messing around by the Northern Crater? There's all sorts of monsters there,"

"With all that materia, I pity any monster who approaches Yuffie," Tifa smirked. "The poor thing would be instantly vapourised,"

Cloud laughed. "You're right," He said, laying the weapon gently down. "Let's take a break now, hmm? Business isn't exactly raging right now,"

Tifa nodded. Although visitors came from all over the world to buy their weapons, hardly anyone had bought anything today. Just some hospital order for Restore Materia. Not that they need worry after all the funds they had amassed during their travels. The store was more of a hobby than anything else. It kept them from dwelling on thoughts of the past and gave them something to do. "Let's head back," She agreed and locked the store door. They headed back to their home, weaving through excited children and camera wielding tourists.

Much to their surprise, when they got to their home, there was already someone there. And the last person they would have expected to turn up on their doorsteps. For there, almost blending with the shadows as he leant against the wall was...

"Vincent?"


	2. Chapter 2

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Another Time, Another Place

Authors Notes- Contains slash, angst, swearing, violence and character death.

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Pairings- Sephiroth x Kuja, Cloud x Aeris, Vincent x Tifa, Rufus x Tseng, Reno x Yuffie.

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Disclaimers- I own none of the characters mentioned hither.

Vincent straightened up slowly. "Cloud, Tifa," He greeted them in a neutral tone.

"How nice to see you! It's been so long!" Tifa was tempted to hug the tall man, but knew better. Vincent looked as wary and unapproachable as ever. 

"Anything in particular bring you here or did you just miss me?" Cloud teased as he unlocked the door. Vincent might have smiled, but they could see nothing beneath the strips of red cloth that hid much of his face.

"Some trouble over by Nibelheim," He admitted. "I've heard some strange reports from locals and thought I'd better mention it to you before I went over,"

"You thought right," Tifa said, worried. "What kind of trouble?"

"Some of the local children have been trespassing in the old manor," Vincent said. "Not all of them came back either. And those who did said they had seen.. something,"

"A monster?" Cloud asked, puzzled. Vincent was capable of seeing to any of the monsters in Nibelheim by himself. Why had he came to them?

"Maybe," Vincent said slowly. "That might have been what attacked the children. But what worried me was the stories the survivors mentioned- they saw something that sounded like a modified person in a glass container,"

Horrific images of the Shinra experiments leapt to Tifa's mind unbidden. "An.. experiment?" She asked haltingly.

"An old one if it is," Vincent replied. "I've kept an eye on the area and no-one has entered or left the building. It's mostly likely an old experiment of Shinra's, although I've never seen anything like they described,"

Cloud shuddered. "I suppose we'd better go and take a look," He said. Vincent nodded. 

"What did they describe?" Tifa asked, unsure of whether she wanted an answer.

Vincent looked pensive. "They said it looked like a human, but it was glowing. It had feathers, a tail... whatever it is, it's not human,"

"Is it loose?" Cloud asked.

"No," Vincent shook his head. "It was contained in a glass cage in a hidden room. The children were merely startled. Presumably it was a monster that finished them off as they tried to run,"

"How horrible," Tifa shuddered. "We'd better go over as quick as possible and take a look,"

"We'll take the buggy," Cloud said. He stood up, a determined light in his eyes and removed his sword from the wall brackets where it had hung almost undisturbed for the last few years. "Let's go!".

- - - - - - - - -

The ride over to Nibelheim didn't take long. Tifa stared out of the window, a little worried as the landscape flashed by. They were only troubled once, by a small pack of fairly weak wolf-like monsters that soon backed off when Tifa shot a fireball at them through the open window.

"Here we are," Cloud pulled the vehicle to a halt outside the village. He looked somewhat reluctant to enter and Tifa impulsively hugged him.

"Come on then!" She sprang out and Vincent followed, his hand resting near a concealed gun. Cloud hefted his sword onto his shoulders and followed.

Nibelheim had changed very little. Vincent lead them straight through without a pause and Tifa was glad. There were so many strange memories connected to this place... she didn't think she wanted to linger. Once, a stranger approached and tugged at Cloud's sleeve. Her face was white and her eyes unfocused.

"You'll see to that monster, won't you? That monster that killed my little boy?" She asked pathetically and Tifa felt a rush of sympathy for the distraught woman.

"We'll take care of it," She assured her.

"Things like that shouldn't be allowed to live.." The woman's voice trailed off as she was led away by her daughter. Cloud shuddered, suddenly cold.

"Alright," Vincent paused outside the mansion. It was as imposing and frightening as ever. The windows were dark and Tifa hated to think what eyes might be peering out. "Are we all equipped?" He asked. They nodded, and Vincent pushed open the double doors that lead into the depths of the mansion.

"Dark..." Tifa blinked as her eyes adjusted. Cobwebs fell softly from the ceiling, swaying ghostly in the breeze from the open door. _Something_ scuttled just to the side of them and she spun sharply, but whatever it was had gone back into the shadows. There was a soft hiss from somewhere above them. Cloud drew his sword.

Despite the creepy atmosphere, nothing troubled them as they searched the mansion. Eventually they found the culprit- a small but ferocious dragon that had somehow crept in. It was fairly weak by their standards, dying after Cloud attacked it in a rage, but big enough to have seen to the two defenceless children. There was nothing much left of their corpses, but a few scattered possessions in the creature's lair showed where they had met their end.

"Poor things.." Tifa stared at the sad remains of what had been two children. "At least it wasn't whatever they found in the basement,"

"It could still be dangerous," Cloud reminded her as they headed over to the basement. There was a sudden shrill laugh behind them and Tifa whirled only to see the weird, laughing face of one of the small monsters. It cackled senselessly and wound up a thread to disappear into the rafters.

"That scared the life out of me," She shivered as Vincent opened the secret door to the spiraling staircase. Wisps of greenish smoke curled around them. She _really_ didn't want to go down there and face whatever horrific experiment lingered. But they couldn't risk leaving another Sephiroth down there. Perhaps the next children to trespass into the mansion wouldn't be so easily scared. Perhaps one of them might start playing with a machine that controlled the opening mechanism for the creature's glass prison. Perhaps. It was a risk they could not take.

Down into the basement they went, in a line. The wooden staircase felt unpleasantly pliable beneath their light footsteps, as though it might give way any moment. The boards were warped and wet with age and once Cloud stumbled as one sagged and tore like paper under his weight. Bats flitted around their heads, stirring tiny breezes of cold air that felt uncomfortably cool. The basement itself was even more unpleasant. They went passed the secret room where Vincent had lay undisturbed for so long. If they hadn't came along he would still be there, Cloud thought with a shiver. The thought of dormant life lying there lost in nightmares was unpleasant. Especially as it appeared Vincent was not alone all that time and another being slept quietly not far away. A being that wasn't quite human..

It was easy to find the hidden room. Presumably one of the monsters had accidentally knocked one of the bookcases down in a fight, leaving the wooden door behind exposed to the children. The floor was scattered with bits of splintered wood and piles of books, lying in puddles of water. They climbed over them silently, making their way to the door that had been left open. A short corridor, stone walls dripping with water and flourescent moss. Tall doors, sealed with heavy bars. Cloud made them all back away as he blasted the doors with a dose of Fire 3. Whatever lived here, Shinra hadn't wanted it to escape. They stepped through the twisted remains of the door into absolute darkness.

Vincent walked steadily and sure in the dark across the room and hit a switch, flooding the room with light. They blinked painfully as a large stone chamber was revealed, the walls high. Light flickered across machines made dull with ages, stacked papers touched with mould, strange instruments that seem to have been abandoned. A single scalpel caught Tifa's eye. It lay on an operating table, the blade dull and stained red-brown. Rust, she tried to reassure herself. Just rust. But in her heart she knew that stainless steel never corroded and the blade had been put to other use. And never cleaned? What operation had been abandoned so quickly?

"It looks like someone's tried to destroy this place," Cloud commented. He touched the stone walls and Tifa took in a blackened space and how the computer screen below had been melted and reset by intense heat.

"No chance that we did that by blasting the door?" Vincent queried. Cloud shook his head.

"Not at the right angle at all. This doesn't even look like a fire spell. Look at the stone. It's crystallised completely- even Fire 3 couldn't do that,"

They shuddered. "How could the children walk straight through here after seeing all this?" Tifa spoke softly, examining some of the more vicious looking instruments. "I'd have ran for my life if I came here and saw this,"

"They don't know just how terrible people can be," Vincent spoke, leafing idly through some papers. "They were born after Sephiroth's demise,"

"Found anything?" Cloud asked. Vincent nodded.

"Whatever lies beyond here was not created by Shinra," He began, studying the papers through their coating of mould. "It was instead brought from somewhere outside of this dimension.."

  
"Like Jenova?" Tifa enquired.

"No. Jenova was from this dimension, although from somewhere in space rather than this planet. However, this being was brought forth when Shinra fiddled with something Gast has named 'time compression'. By using tremendous amounts of Mako energy and compressing them within a certain environment under extreme conditions, they were capable of bending the very laws of physics by using a long forgotten magic that allows people to travel between time and space,"

"Why would they want to do that?" Cloud asked. "It sounds terribly unpredictable,"  
  
"It was," Vincent said softly. "And not perfected either. Gast managed to use Mako in a way that meant a kind of portal could be created, but it was completely uncontrollable. Early experiments involved lowly Shinra employees who were put into the portal and monitored whilst using varying strengths of Mako and altering the compression and heat they were exposed to,"  
  
"What happened?" Tifa asked.

"Some of the employees simply disappeared and couldn't be brought back. One was successfully brought back, but he had aged decades within the five minutes he was gone. Some were brought back as mere corpses, but burnt and scarred horribly. Gast believed that they had gone too far into the future and seen what would become of the Planet. Or perhaps they had seen the early planet as a ball of fire. Some were insane. Very few had any reliable things to report,"

"What did they say?" Cloud asked, curiously.

"One brought back reports of a strange and greatly advanced world he had visited. He was gone for a few minutes of our time, but he said days had passed for him. The world he had visited accepted time compression, amazingly. But they knew nothing of materia or Mako energy. Luckily he was looked after by an authority figure, a President he said. He was unfortunately not a very learned man and he didn't gain any useful results beyond the city name. 'Esthar', they called it,"

Tifa dropped the scalpel she had been examining. "Did he go into the future?" She asked.

"It would appear he at least went into the future, and possibly visited another world. If he visited the future, it was a terribly far away future for the language was somewhat different and there were no familiar continents. Millenia must have passed for the appearance of the world to be shaped thus!"

Vincent paused. "Of course, not all of them went into the future. Another went into a kind of past, where people had not heard of Mako and had very few reliable machines. They used steam and also ran on something they called 'Mist'. Perhaps the ancestor of Mako, Gast speculated. The report was not very reliable, alas,"

"So how does the monster fit into this?" Tifa asked eagerly. "Did one of them.. bring something back?"

"Almost. After losing their employees and gaining no real results, Shinra decided to try to bring someone back from the world. Typical Shinra attitude, transporting people through dimensions to satisfy their curiosity and gain more power,"

Vincent turned over the page and scanned in. "Apparantly it was harder to bring anyone back. Certain conditions were required. Gast speculated that a state was needed where the world they made contact with was.. unstable. Heavy with magic, perhaps. To be honest, I think that means they knew nothing,"

Tifa and Cloud exchanged glances. The visions were worrying ones. People being passed into strange and unknown worlds, thrown into new civilisations and brought from their world into another to be nothing more than a research specimen.

"After several failed attempts, contact was eventually made," Vincent continued. "The existence of the world Shinra connected with was in danger. The life of the planet had been threatened and a neighbour to it had been destroyed. The area in which the specimen had found was full of old magicks and it was highly unstable at the time. The experiment was a success.."

"What exactly did they bring back?" Tifa asked, unsure if they wanted the answer.

"It was almost human," Vincent continued. "Very weak at the time it was brought here. The style of dress was not recognisable as any within the past thousand years of our Planet. It was either from another planet, or from another time. There are some slides they took.. drawer 24a.." He read the faded labels on one metal cabinet and pulled it open. There was a painful sound as it racketed open, like old bones breaking. He pulled out a steel box and examined the contents.

"Are they legible?" Cloud asked.

"Barely," Vincent replied, holding them to the light and passing them on. They appeared to show a person- whether it was male or female was unsure, with a strange and rather unearthly beauty and a distinctly odd sense of dress. It appeared heavily sedated within the damaged slides, some showing it in a glass cage much like had been used for Aeris and Red XIII under Hojo's control.

"Anyway," Vincent continued. "The experiments lasted well over a year. It was dubbed Project Kuja after the subject's name. The specimen was kept and examined here and various abnormalities were noted. A tail, feathers growing amongst the hair, altered gene structure. At first the creature was willing to talk although obviously quite disturbed by what had happened. The results were taped, although I doubt they will still be intact. It was apparantly _not_ a normal example of its world. It reluctantly talked about its life and described itself as a 'Genome', an altered form of a human. Beyond that, it refused to talk about its life and was reluctant to take part in experiments which mostly tested its magic abilities as well as some Mako infusion. Scientists observed it had undergone great mental trauma recently and they resorted to.. interrogation,"

"Torture?" Tifa asked softly. Vincent looked pained.

"More or less. I'm sure you don't need to know the details of the reports but Gast became impatient and resorted to using physical means to get the creature to talk more. Unfortunately it had the opposite effect and the specimen effectively cut itself off from the world. It refused to talk or take part in any more experiments. It was declared dangerous after an experiment went wrong here,"

Vincent's gaze flickered over the blackened patches as he continued. "The creature was undergoing electric shock treatment when strange physical changes were noticed. It appeared to be lit with a reddish light and the hair and eyes appeared scarlet. The number of feathers increased and it seemed altogether less human. The CCTV camera picked up images of the incident. The creature showed no sign of undergoing a limit break as we know it and had no materia on it, yet it managed to cause what one survivor described as a 'rain of fire'. Examinations of the tape showed it to be similar to the effects of the Ultima materia. But it had no materia and should have been incapable of casting magic!"

"Perhaps it just didn't want to show them what it was _really _capable of," Tifa suggested, sympathetically.

"Maybe," Vincent put down the papers. "Either way, the experiment was called a failure and the creature was put into storage. The rooms were shut off and the whole thing covered up. Typical Shinra operation,"

"So whatever they brought back is in there?" Cloud asked, his eyes on the enormous steel doors in the corner. Vincent nodded.

"These results look pretty old, but it's possible to survive in suspended animation for decades. Whatever it is, Project Kuja is still alive!"


	3. Chapter 3

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Another Time, Another Place

Authors Notes- Contains slash, angst, swearing, violence and character death.

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Pairings- Sephiroth x Kuja, Cloud x Aeris, Vincent x Tifa, Rufus x Tseng, Reno x Yuffie.

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Disclaimers- I own none of the characters mentioned hither.

"Shall we?" Cloud paused before the doors with a Fire materia at the ready. Tifa and Vincent exchanged a glance, ruby eyes meeting ruby eyes, before nodding. There was a blinding flash as the door was blasted open, the edges curling away. Droplets of molten metal sizzled on the stone floor. They blinked, colourful flashes bursting before their eyes. Then Vincent moved forward and stepped through the hole, into the darkness.

It was dark here too. A little light spilled in from the hole in the doors, showing dimly lit glass and more doors leading away. Tifa reached for the wall to steady herself as she straightened up and felt plastic, unpleasantly damp and slick under her fingers. She pushed experimentally and there was a low buzz as the lights kicked in. Project Kuja was revealed.

The room was round, and directly before them was a tank, with a kind of screen made of glass, held in place by heavy bolts. It was moulded precisely to the figure that was held there, arms spread as though crucified. Blue liquid pulsed and swirled softly within the glass tank but did nothing to obscure the creature which looked almost as alien as Jenova. Cloud's first thought was of Sephiroth, but beyond the mass of silver hair there was no real resemblance. It was too pale, too small and too effeminate to be anything like Sephiroth. Two feathers swayed softly in the liquid. It looked completely unearthly, more ghost than human. 

"So this is Shinra's project.." Cloud's voice interrupted the long silence. "It doesn't look that dangerous.."

"Project Kuja's power lies within magic, not physical strength," Vincent replied. "Although it spoke little of what happened in its world and its own abilities, it was familiar with various types of spell. Including some Shinra had never observed before,"

"Do we have to keep calling the project 'it'?" Tifa asked, walking over to the tank and examining the suspended figure. "It's not a specimen. It was a person with a real life before Shinra interfered,"

"He, then," Vincent acknowledged her request.

"Are you sure it's male?" Cloud smiled faintly as he joined Tifa. "And where do we go from here?"

"I suppose there isn't much we can do," Vincent said softly. "After being in animation, it would be very weak and dazed at first. We could overpower it quite easily and.. eliminate it,"

Tifa froze at the rather heartless suggestion. "Spoken like a true Turk," she said bitterly. "Kuja didn't hurt anyone. He's more of a victim than anything,"

Vincent's expression didn't change. "What else did you have in mind?" He asked. "Whatever it is, it's dangerous. It might not be Kuja's fault at all, but whatever Shinra have done has clearly left it deeply disturbed. What if it was released some time? Would _that_ be a kindness? Would it be fair to the next children who trespass through here? Because something like this won't go unnoticed forever,"

Cloud placed a hand on Tifa's shoulder. "He's right, really. Kuja is a danger to others. It might be better for everyone if we just... well... ended it all,"

"You can put it as nicely as you want to," Tifa tore herself away from Cloud's reassuring touch. "It's still not fair to kill him. I won't take any part of it,"

"Neither can I.." Vincent said, turning away from them. Cloud looked up, astonished. Vincent had never struck him as being particularly emotional. Even about Sephiroth, the son of his lover, he had gone to the battle without any qualms. Sephiroth was dangerous, Sephiroth must be killed. It had been as simple and as sad as that.

"I've been a victim of Shinra's experiments too," Vincent went on. "I've probably even contributed to them during my years as an employee. You could say I got what I deserved for refusing to stop them, even when my own Lucrecia was involved. I didn't try hard enough to stop Hojo,"

"Now that's not true," Tifa started to protest. Vincent silenced her.

"But this person didn't do anything to deserve what they got," He continued, indicating the glass tank. "They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. And I know how much I had to go through and.. well, it must be considerably worse if you can't even accept it as retribution," He paused, a little awkward under their gaze. "I mean to say that although I think it would be easier and better for everyone if Project Kuja was terminated, I know what it's like and I don't think I could take part in it," There was a long pause and Vincent left the room, looking suddenly angry.

"What's wrong?" Tifa whispered after a minute's silence. She was answered by a strange, drawn out scream from far away as Vincent transformed into Chaos. "He must really be pissed," She lowered her gaze. Cloud nodded.

"He'll be back when he's calmed down," He said simply and they left the room to wait in the library for Vincent's return.

It was almost two hours before he came back, having flown to Mount Nibel and wreaked havoc on the unsuspecting monsters of the area in his rage. Cloud remembered acutely the last time Vincent had transformed and massacred every monster in the area. Better than accidentally killing a friend, he supposed. During that time, Tifa and Cloud read most of the notes on Project Kuja. Some of it was absolutely horrific. Mako infusions, trapped in rooms with monsters to try and release his powers, lengthy interrogation.. Cloud looked rather disturbed, which was unsurprising as he too had been used by Shinra. 

".........." 

Vincent re-appeared silently besides Tifa, looking even paler than usual. "You ok?" She asked sympathetically and was greeted with silence. She lowered her gaze.

"Anyone have any more ideas?" Cloud asked quietly. There was silence. Tifa spoke up, her voice trembling a little.

"I thought perhaps we could just seal the area off," She said quietly. "It's certainly not a permanent solution but it should do for now. It should keep any inquisitive children away anyway. And then we can have a meeting about it later," The others nodded. It was the best solution for now. Tifa apologised silently to the suspended Kuja as Cloud cast a strong Seal magic over the tank. "Let's leave now," she suggested.

After leaving the room, Vincent and Cloud managed to weld the doors shut again by careful use of a Fire 2 spell. Another Seal spell was cast over the hidden room and then finally they concealed the door with another bookcase.

"That should do for now," Cloud said, regarding the hidden door in a satisfied way. "It will at least keep children and travellers away,"

"It still solves nothing in the long term," Vincent said darkly as he headed up the stairs. Cloud and Tifa exchanged glances before hurrying after.

- - - - - -

When they were on their way back, Costa Del Sol was scarcely in sight when there was a call on the PHS. Cloud answered it, steering the buggy over the rough terrain idly with his free hand.

"Yes?"

"Cloud? I know you're going to be.. surprised to hear this, but it's Tseng..."

"TSENG?" Cloud was more than surprised. "I didn't even think you were alive,"  
  
"Oh yes," Tseng said calmly. "Takes a lot to kill off a Turk, you know. Woke up in Mideel after the rest of them had a nice funeral for me and Sephiroth was dead. Nice surprise for them all,"

"Well, that's _lovely _to know," Cloud said sarcastically, with Tifa breathing down his neck as she eavesdropped. "But was there any other reason for calling me?"

"Just thought I'd put you out of your misery and let you know I survived," Tseng replied in equally sarcastic tones. "I knew you'd be pining for me. Oh yes, and there _was_ the small matter of disturbances in the Northern Crater,"

"What disturbances!?" Cloud accidentally jerked the steering wheel and sent them all careening down a rocky slope into a stream. "Oh fuck!" He dropped the PHS in his lap while he steered them to safety. Tifa instantly made a grab for it.

"Disturbances?" She asked, picking it up.

"Yes. Bits of dismembered monster everywhere, that bloody guard spell is back up round the whole area, that sort of thing," Tseng replied merrily. "Terrible mess. Thought you might like to sort it out, world-saving being your area of expertise," 

There was silence as the three of them stared at each other. Tseng was still talking away happily but no-one was noticing. After a long pause Tifa lifted it back up.

"Sorry.." She said. "So do you think Sephiroth might be back?"

"I think? Honey, I _know_. Haven't you listened to a word I've been saying? If you want to come and see for yourself, do a spot of investigation or whatever, we're staying at Icicle Inn,"

"We'll be there," Cloud nodded and Tifa confirmed it. "Er.. Who is 'we'?" She asked, curiously.

"Oh, all of us lot," Tseng replied carelessly. "Reno, Rude, Elena and a fellow by the name of Rufus.."


	4. Chapter 4

****

Another Time, Another Place

Authors Notes- Contains slash, angst, swearing, violence and character death.

****

Pairings- Sephiroth x Kuja, Cloud x Aeris, Vincent x Tifa, Rufus x Tseng, Reno x Yuffie.

****

Disclaimers- I own none of the characters mentioned hither.

Back to Costa Del Sol in silence. There was too much to take in. The President of all they hated was alive. Sephiroth may well be there, recuperating slowly within his protective shell. All they had achieved could so easily become nothing. And there was some monster lurking in the remains of the Shinra mansion. They stood in the living room of Cloud and Tifa's house in shocked silence. It was Vincent who eventually took control and suggested they call Cid and ask him to pick them all up in the Highwind. Cloud called to explain the details.

"That @#!&?@#!? Rufus is still alive?" Cid exploded. Cloud held the PHS a foot away from his ear. Worryingly, Cid was more concerned about the President surviving than Sephiroth.

"Yes, but that's not the pressing issue.." He began. 

  
"Like #%!? it's not!" Cid ranted. "That @#!£&?@ is the reason why this whole mess started. Have you forgot WHO messed around with Jenova? WHO made Sephiroth what he is?"

"That wasn't actually Rufus.." Cloud started.

"An' he sentenced Tifa and Barret to die!" Cid continued. "Rufus, Shinra, whatever. Those #!£&#!£% Shinras are the reason why all of this started. SHERA! Get me some goddamn tea, would ya?" Cid returned to his rant. Cloud sat patiently and waited for it to end.

"You're forgetting something," He said politely. "Without Shinra, Rufus is nothing. He may even be of some use to us if we must defeat Sephiroth again,"

"Yeah, we could pick the #%£!?@! up and use him instead of my spear to batter Sephiroth to death," Cid grumbled away quietly before confirming that he _would_ be able to pick them up shortly. He sounded quite cheerful to have an excuse for taking his new aeroplane, Highwind 2, out for a spin.

He was there within two hours, parking the Highwind in Storm's field and almost squashing the Chocobo who was saved by a truly remarkable turn of speed. "Don't suppose there's any chance of getting some tea around here?" He enquired as soon as Tifa opened the door. "I've been flying for hours and I had to leave that useless Shera at home to look after all those #@!?%$£ kids,"

"Certainly," Tifa hid a smile as she stood aside and let him in. "Is it true that you dressed up as Santa and fell off the roof this Christmas? Shera was very proud of you,"  
  
Cid blushed. "Well, ya got to do it for the kids," He stammered. "Now, what about that goddamn tea?"

Tifa went off to the kitchen. "Nice to see you again, Cloud," Cid greeted him pleasantly enough for Cid. "And vampy-boy too. Good to see you're here too, saves us having to tear around the country looking for whatever coffin ya locked yourself up in,"

Vincent shot Cid a look that would have sent Ruby Weapon crying home to its mother. Cid was remarkably unaffected. He did seem quite frighteningly cheerful, until Cloud filled him in on the additional story of Kuja.

"We could always shove it in the crater and let him and Sephiroth tear bits out of each other," He said thoughtfully. "Saves us a job, doesn't it?" He drained the last of his tea. "Let's be on our way then. Whose nearest?"

- - - - - -

Corel Town was nearest. Barret had already sent Marlene to stay with Shera. Despite the grave situation, he insisted on showing them all the work that had been done on the little town. It looked like any other busy industrial town now, prosperous and comfortable. Cid was quite admiring, insisting that he would give Barret a hand building some steam-powered engines to replace the current Chocobo drawn carts. "Who we picking up next?" He asked as they gathered back on the Highwind. "That goddamn materia thief?"

Cloud nodded. "I alerted Yuffie and she's looking forward to it. Says she wants to go look for more materia within the crater,"

"Doesn't anyone understand how serious this is?" Tifa asked suddenly. "Once Sephiroth is fully recuperated he could summon Meteor again,"

"Of course we understand. I've been through it all before- I know how dangerous Sephiroth can be more than anyone. What sort of person do you take me for?" Cloud said in suddenly harsh tones. Tifa turned half away. He had never spoken to her like that before.

  
"Tifa is right," Vincent said slowly. "Aeris didn't give her life for this,"

The words struck a chord within Cloud and he lowered his gaze before leaving the room and walking towards the deck.

"Don't take him too seriously," Cid smiled at Tifa who looked rather upset. "He's just stressed. You know how hard it was for him the first time,"

"It was hard for me too," Tifa said softly as she walked away. No-one heard her. "And I thought he'd be waiting for me after it was all over.."

- - - - - - 

Yuffie was waiting for them at Wutai, sat on a pretty gold Chocobo. She waved cheerfully to them as the Highwind landed in a cloud of dust with an almighty thump. "_Waaark!_" The Chocobo sprang backwards, startled. They heard a thin cry as Yuffie tried to steady it before... "_WAARK!"_ It tore off at full gallop in a golden blur. Tifa smiled as they watched the pair race around in a circle before Yuffie hauled it back determinedly. With a final indignant "WARK!", the Chocobo skidded to a halt just ten feet from the Highwing. Yuffie flew off, somersaulted and managed to land on her feet, colliding with Vincent ungracefully. "Oops," She grinned sheepishly as she too was on the receiving end of Vincent's glare. "Sorry!" She hopped backwards and lead the skittish gold Chocobo into the Highwind 2. "Nice ship," She complimented Cid. "Can't wait to throw up all over it!" She disappeared inside.

"I thought you said she'd grown up," Cid shook his head disapprovingly.

"Better check ya materia," Barret wisely adviced Vincent as they headed back into the Highwind. 

- - - - - - -

Red XIII was next. He was waiting patiently by the entrance to Cosmos Canyon. "Ready?" Cloud asked. Red XIII nodded slowly.

"I hate to leave my home, but there may be a greater danger coming soon," He said, glancing up at the peaceful blue skies. 

"Red XIII?" Cloud asked thoughtfully. Red XIII raised his head. "Has there been any.. warning signs? I thought one of the astronomers may have noticed something,"

Red XIII pondered it. "There has been no _proven_ signs," He answered thoughtfully. "But one of the resident mystics has been hearing the Planet cry again. I think that may be a sign that Sephiroth is growing in power again,"  
  
Cloud nodded seriously. "That may well be. The guard is back over the crater, so I don't know how we will find out at all. We're going to speak to the Turks and Rufus. They had the idea about destroying Meteor last time. Perhaps they will work alongside us this time. I have some questions I would like them to answer anyway,"

"Oh yes?" Red XIII looked up curiously.

"About an old experiment we found in the Shinra mansion," Cloud said. "I'll explain on the ship. Are you ready to go?"

Red XIII glanced wistfully at the red canyon which seemed to glow fire-hot in the sunset. "I suppose," He said regretfully, before leaving it unguarded for the first time in five years,"

- - - - - - -

Once everyone was aboard the Highwind, Cloud filled them in on all he had heard. About the Shinra experiment, about the rumours of Sephiroth's return. There was a shocked silence. The memory of the last battle again Sephiroth was burnt into everyone's mind. The long hard struggle, the lives lost.. it hadn't been easy and now it could happen again. And Aeris wasn't there to save them this time. She'd passed on peacefully to her Promised Land. No Holy spells to stop Meteor now.

"Christ," Cid eventually spoke. "Looks like we're in a lot of trouble,"

Cloud nodded. "That's why we've made contact with the remainder of Shinra. They may be our enemies but they know a lot about this sort of thing. And I'm still curious about Project Kuja,"

Yuffie suddenly dashed from the room. There was the sound of noisy vomiting and she returned looking rather shaken. "Can we just decide where we're heading?" She whined fretfully. "I wanna get off this ship as soon as possible," She kicked the wall resentfully. Tifa hid a smile.

"Straight to Icicle Inn then?" Tifa asked. It looked like they were agreed. Cid wandered over to the control panels and set the course.

"No steering!" He beamed proudly, patting the side of the panel. "Told ya this new Highwind was good,"

It took only an hour or so to reach the Northern Continent. Tifa remained up on the deck, away from Cloud who was distinctly moody. It was bitterly cold up here, with cutting winds sweeping across the exposed deck. She didn't really care. It numbed her in the same way that racing with Storm did and froze any tears that might threaten. It wouldn't be so bad but she'd known Cloud had loved her once. Didn't he promise to come and help her when she needed her hero? She'd tried to put on a brave face, let them exist purely as friends. But it was so hard.. She pulled her knees up to her chest and watched the land pass below in a mostly uninteresting white blur, occasionally broken by jagged blueish rock outcrops. Once, a herd of chocobo ran startled below them and once she saw a small red dragon shoot a jet of flames upward defensively. Not that it was anywhere near enough to endanger them. At last they were far enough inland and the small village of Icicle Town showed below them, a pitifully small settlement in the middle of the savage frozen land.


	5. Chapter 5

****

Another Time, Another Place

Authors Notes- Contains slash, angst, swearing, violence and character death.

****

Pairings- Sephiroth x Kuja, Cloud x Aeris, Vincent x Tifa, Rufus x Tseng, Reno x Yuffie.

****

Disclaimers- I own none of the characters mentioned hither.

Cid had to land the Highwind quite some distance from the town. It was useless on the rocky treacherous mountains and instead they had to land near the warmer coast. Tifa watched the land grow nearer until there was a soft thump and powdered snow flew up from the landing, obliviating everything.

"You'd better get dressed warmly," Yuffie said as Tifa entered the main room. "I was up here a few months ago with Flash and I woke up in the Chocobo Sage's house with hypothermia. And he couldn't remember what he'd done with all my materia for days. Turned out he'd accidentally fed it to that green animal of his,"

Tifa nodded. She had packed lightly for the journey, but she pulled some more layers on top of her usual rather skimpy outfit. "We'd better take the Chocobo with us," She said, shivering as cold air swept in from the open doors. "We might end up staying for a few nights,"

Flash and Storm were side by side in the plane stables. The black Chocobo seemed quite enamoured with Yuffie's little gold Chocobo. Tifa patted them both fondly.

"Come on," She lead the two out to be loaded up with various things. "No rest for you two, I'm afraid,". The two Chocobos looked quite justifiably annoyed, coming out from the warmth of the little stable into the cold Northern atmosphere. "Sorry," Tifa said apologetically. Storm ruffled his feathers and pecked her in an not entirely friendly way as the snow started to pelt down, melting on his back.

Within ten minutes they were ready to go. Both Chocobo were loaded up with what luggage they had brought. Storm was quite used to this sort of behaviour as Tifa had regularly gone out for days with him. Flash was less impressed and neither of them were particularly pleased with the weather after the warmth of Wutai and Costa del Sol.

"Are we all ready?" Cloud asked. Everyone seemed to be. "We should make it within about seven hours or so," He said apologetically. It was a long way inland and trekking up the side of the mountains was arduous. The snow, which had momentarily ceased, re-doubled it's efforts.

They had been walking for about two hours, Tifa thought, when they took the first rest. It was hard to keep track of time. They had quickly reached the plains and been lost in a world of whiteness. There was no relief anywhere- the sky, the ground, even the air was full of whirling snowflakes driven into their eyes by the bitter wind. Cloud was up ahead with Cid, the two Chocobo jogging behind. Vincent was slightly to the side of Tifa and the sight of his red clothes were welcome after all the painful brightness.

"You ok?" Barret asked, jogging alongside her. Tifa nodded. She felt too cold to risk talking. "I don't believe ya," Barret smiled. "Why don't you get that lazy no-good Chocobo of yours to carry you for a bit?" He asked. Tifa shook her head.

"They're loaded enough as it is," Speaking felt strange with her face frozen into numbness. Barret shrugged and headed off to join the others. Tifa plodded along gamely, lost in thought.

By the time they reached the mountain base, they were all exhausted. Yuffie had nearly got lost after falling behind and wandering off-track. Vincent went to search for her and returned with Yuffie white-faced and stumbling with exhaustion. Barret ignored her protests and lifted her forcefully onto Flash's back.

"I can walk!" Yuffie insisted, as she fell forward drowsily and let the bird carry her onwards over the rocky ground. The rest of the group walked steadily onward, ignoring the bitter cold and steep incline. They were within an hour's walk of the settlement when trouble struck.

"What's that?" Tifa called to the others as a faint howling caught her attention. The group had straggled out over some distance and she had to run to catch up with Cloud.

"Sounds like Bandersnatches," Cloud said, listening.

"Some kinda goddamn monster?" Cid asked, hefting his javelin in a threatening manner.

"Big, wolf-like things. Nothing to worry about on their own, but they usually come in packs-" Cloud had barely finished explaining when he saw the first dark shape circling the group. 

"Hey!" Yuffie looked up startled as a dark shape bounded sleekly towards her. She shaded her eyes against the snow's brightness, trying to make out the shape. Flash stumbled over a hidden rock and fell heavily onto one knee. The shape lunged forward. Yuffie screamed.

The group span around upon hearing Yuffie scream. More shapes suddenly materialised around them like some dreadful magic trick. Dark, furtive shapes skulking behind a snow screen, wistful howls coming towards them. The monster that had threatened Yuffie crouched and leapt again, just clipping the edge of Flash's wing with a row of bright teeth. The Chocobo cried in pain and plunged to its feet, shaking off the monster and running away in a sudden panicky burst of speed. 

"Yuffie!" Tifa cried. They all knew the consequences of getting lost in these mountains. She grabbed Storm's reins and leapt onto him, balancing somewhat awkwardly above the load. With a word, he broke into a gallop and raced across the treacherous surface towards the rapidly disappearing Yuffie.

- - - - - - -

It took almost ten minutes for the rest of the group to see off the pack and gather. "We'd better get after them," Cloud said in a shaken voice. "They can't spend the night out here,"

"It'll take hours of searchin' to catch up with those Chocobo," Barret commented. "We ain't going to make Icicle Inn tonight,"

Thoughts raced through all of their minds- of Tifa and Yuffie falling into a hidden icy crevasse, stumbling over a cliff, being attacked by the vicious hungry monsters of the region or simply freezing to death out in the blizzard. Then Vincent spoke.

"I could go after them," He said quietly. "If I transformed, I could see them far easier from the air. And Chaos doesn't particularly mind these conditions,"

"Might be the best decision," Cid said. "I hate to think of those two out there in this #&%!@! weather but vampy here's got the best chance of all of us,"

"We'll carry on to Icicle Inn then," Cloud said and they parted ways.

- - - - - -

It was ages before Flash finally stopped. The young Chocobo raced wildly across the mountain side, dodging splintered black trees that rose starkly from the ground. Yuffie clung weakly on, exhausted and thrown about wildly. Several times she almost slipped from the saddle as they raced along at dangerous speed, stumbling over the rough ground. Once, a crevasse seemed to open below them and only a huge leap saved them from falling into the icy gash. She sobbed quietly as she was jerked in the saddle and almost swept off by low branches. Then the tears froze on her skin in the cutting wind. It wasn't until they hit a snow drift that the Chocobo stumbled and fell forward, throwing Yuffie violently forward over its head. She landed hard and skidded on her side, the frozen snow drawing blood from scratches across her exposed skin. And she lay still.

Tifa went as fast as she dared in the difficult terrain. Storm wasn't used to this at all. Jagged black rocks rose from the snow, deep drifts threatened to drag him down and once they hit a patch of ice and made them skid sideways out of control. It was the most frightening ride of her life, especially after Yuffie disappeared from sight and she continued blindly on. Several times, Tifa felt Storm dodge great holes in the ground and each time she pictured Flash falling as one of the holes opened up beneath him. "Yuffie!" She cried, standing up in her stirrups. There was no answer beyond the rise and fall of the wind. It seemed to acquire an almost malicious note.

Yuffie thought she heard someone call her name. She raised her head an inch or so and opened her eyes. All white, as far as she could see. Was she in bed? She did feel quite deliciously warm. Snow was surprisingly insulating when it covered you in a soft blanket. And there was no pain now she was completely numb. She thought she heard voices again but she felt like she was in the grip of some powerful, pleasant anaesthetic. She dropped her head again and closed her eyes drowsily.

Tifa's voice was becoming hoarse. She felt tears threaten as she surveyed the scene. If only it would stop snowing! Yuffie might be just a little outside her vision. She began to turn Storm left, for no particular reason. They may have headed almost any way. Storm threw his head up and resisted. "Please Storm, behave yourself!" She pleaded as he turned the other way and set off purposely. "We need to find Yuffie!" The Chocobo ignored her frantic yanks at the reins and broke into a jog. Was he going back to the others? "No!" She kicked him and considered leaping from the saddle. But she wouldn't survive very long on her own and that would do Yuffie no good. She was still considering what to do when Storm let out a welcoming _Waaark!_ and she saw the injured figure of Flash ahead hunched miserably against the wind, one leg bleeding and cut.

- - - - - - - 

Meanwhile, Chaos wheeled above them, riding the cold winds with ease. Any feelings of worry Vincent may have felt were wiped away as the demon took over. His sharp eyes surveyed the world as he searched for a trace of Tifa and Yuffie, hoping he wouldn't be too late to stop them stumbling from a cliff or being attacked by monsters. Was that a patch of colour in the distance? He went into a steep dive, cutting through the cold crisp atmosphere.

- - - - - - -

"Flash!" Tifa cried out. Storm jogged over and greeted the smaller Chocobo enthusiastically. Tifa slid bonelessly from his back and stumbled weakily. "You did know what you were doing," She hugged the black Chocobo apologetically. "Now what have you done with Yuffie?". She briefly examined Flash's wound and then began walking to the right. And stopped dead in horror as she almost stumbled across the jagged edge of a sudden drop that opened, almost unseen before her. Had Yuffie been thrown over here?

"No!" Tifa cried, her voice choked with misery. She knelt and slowly felt before her until she felt the jagged icy edge of the cliff under her hands. Hardly daring to look, she peered over the edge and stared into oblivion.

"Please no.." She whispered senselessly. The black rocky cliff dropped steeply, occasional jagged outcrops showing against the winds that swirled and smashed themselves against it. There was too much snow to see how far down it went and whether she could have survived if she'd fallen that far. No splash of colour, no green blotch against the white. She slowly backed away and saw blood melting into the snow where Flash had stumbled and came down. If she had been facing the cliff there was a high chance that Yuffie had gone straight over!

Tifa didn't know what to do at all. She knew what she _wanted_ to do, and that was curl up in the snow in a miserable little ball and wait for her hero to come and save her. But this was the real world and she needed to help Yuffie. She stood, tired and weak, and began walking in a circle around the Chocobo. Perhaps Yuffie had stumbled away from the scene. Perhaps.

It was only five minutes before Chaos's dark shape showed against the steely clouds. Tifa heard a whistle that was somehow different from the wind, coming from great demon wings, and looked upward to see an enormous black shape land softly not far away. There was a soft red glow and Vincent ran towards them.

"Are you ok?" He asked. Tifa shook her head. 

"I think Yuffie might have gone over the cliff," She said, her voice soft with misery. A flicker of something passed over Vincent's usually impassive face. Of course he'd end up blaming himself for not coming faster. Tifa felt tears warm her numbed face. Vincent moved, perhaps to comfort her although he seemed incapable of such behaviour. 

"We'd better carry on searching," He said awkwardly. Tifa nodded and they headed in opposite directions to continue searching the area. "Don't go too far," He warned her. "It's easy to lose your sense of direction,"

Tifa plodded through the snow gamely. Nothing but absolute whiteness. No Yuffie, curled up and complaining bitterly about how long they'd taken. Nothing as far as she could see. And then as she stumbled along blindly, she saw a tiny insignificant splash of red to her left. Fear brought her frozen muscles to life and with a sudden burst of speed she raced over and saw splashes of bright blood melting into the ice besides a lumpy patch of snow. She knelt and scraped away at it blindly, feeling something faintly soft below the thin layer. Green showed. "Yuffie!" she cried and reached, pulling the unconscious girl from the snow that buried her alive.

Vincent heard the thin cry and set off unerringly in the direction. He grabbed the Chocobo on the way and pulled them along with him, Flash limping miserably along. Then ahead of him he saw Tifa's back and her long dark hair speckled with snow. She cradled something in her arms and Vincent feared the worst.

Yuffie was alive, though weak and dangerously cold. Tifa wrapped her coat around the girl and held her tightly, unsure of what to do. Vincent arrived silently and cast a soft green glow of Cure magic around her. After a few minutes, Yuffie's dark brown eyes fluttered open and met Tifa's worried red ones. "Where am I?" She asked, disorientated. "Did Sephiroth come back?" Tifa shushed her silently and shook her head.

"We'll have to get her back as fast as possible," Vincent said quietly. He began transferring most of Storm's load onto Flash and used another dose of Cure to halt the pain and bleeding for the smaller Chocobo. Tifa looked up.

"Can't you take her as Chaos?" She asked desperately. Vincent shook his head.

"The wind gets worse higher up," he stated. "She'd freeze instantly,"

With that he turned away and pulled another materia from his collection. Time magic glowed against the cold background. "Haste," They watched as a reddish glow surrounded the two Chocobo. Tifa lifted Yuffie onto Storm's back and climbed behind her, wrapping her arms tightly around the younger girl. "Sorry," She whispered apologetically to Storm.

"I'll fly ahead and take them directly there," Vincent said, walking away. "Tifa, hold onto her," With that, Vincent was surrounded by light and suddenly Chaos rose against the sky.

The ride back took less than an hour with the Haste materia. Chaos darted ahead, selecting the easiest route and leading them away from difficult terrain. Tifa clung on desperately as the world passed by in a nightmare white haze. When they finally skidded to a halt and saw the lights of Icicle Inn welcoming, she was barely able to hold onto any more. Vincent took Yuffie from her, and steadied Tifa as she slid to the floor. Her legs almost gave way and she leaned against his side, trembling with exhaustion.

Icicle Inn blazed with warmth. There was a rush of voices as the sad little trio limped in. Yuffie was asleep again and lay unconscious within Vincent's arms. Tifa was streaked with blood from Yuffie's scratches and shaking uncontrollably as she held onto the wall. Cloud was there and instantly he raced over.

"What happened?" He demanded, sudden concern crossing his face as he saw Yuffie's silent form, streaked with blood.

"She should be fine," Vincent stated. "She just needs rest now," Cloud took the young girl from Vincent and carried her speedily upstairs. "You look rather dead too," Vincent said, turning to Tifa. "Go get some rest,"

She nodded and headed upstairs. When she finally reached her room, she collapsed onto the bed and instantly fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

****

Another Time, Another Place

Authors Notes- Contains slash, angst, swearing, violence and character death.

****

Pairings- Sephiroth x Kuja, Cloud x Aeris, Vincent x Tifa, Rufus x Tseng, Reno x Yuffie.

****

Disclaimers- I own none of the characters mentioned hither.

She woke some time later, feeling blissfully warm and not at all tired. Firelight flickered across the dimly lit room. With a soft sigh, she rose and quickly changed. Someone had brought her bags in already. Tifa pulled her hair back and headed downstairs.

The rest of the group were sat quietly around a fire, apparantly lost in discussion. Yuffie was there, with a bright scratch racing across her forehead but her usual grin intact. "Tifa!" She sprang up instantly and raced over to her. "Are you ok?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Tifa pondered.

"I'm fine and dandy," Yuffie said cheerily. "Thanks for coming after me,"

"Thank Vincent," Tifa said offhandedly. "I'd have never got you back alone. Anyway, what have I missed?"

"Nothing really," Yuffie frowned. "We still haven't met the Turks and co. Which is a shame cause I'd like to see Reno again," She blushed slightly. "Anyway, Cloud didn't want to start without ya, so come on over,"

They joined the group by the fire. "Shouldn't we take this somewhere more private?" Cloud frowned. "It's a serious issue and people could listen in here,"

"Then come to one of the private rooms," A strange voice said jauntily. 

"RENO!" Yuffie exploded and then blushed hard. "I mean, hi!"

"Hi Yuffie," Reno smirked and she turned a deeper shade of red. "We've already hired one of the conference rooms if you'd care to join us,"

"Can't think of anything I'd like ta do better," Barret growled, standing suddenly. "I'd jest love to meet that Shinra kid again,"

Reno looked pained. "I need to ask you all to avoid confronting Rufus," He looked down at the floor. "I know he was.. well, a bit of a bastard-"

"He tried ta kill Tifa!" Barret broke in.

"-But he was under a lot of pressure, ya know?" Reno frowned. "Taking over a company that ruled the world at that age isn't easy. And he's already paid for what he's done. Lost everything, keeps hearing the Planet's screams-"

"What?!" Red XIII looked up interested.

"I sometimes think he survived Weapon's attack as a punishment more than anything else," Reno said slowly. "He keeps hearing the lifestream in his head ever since. Can you at least avoid killing him?"

"Come on, Barret," Tifa smiled at her old friend. "If _I_ can forgive him for trying to kill me, surely you can too?"

Barret frowned and then nodded reluctantly. "But if he tries anythin' funny, y'all better not try to hold me back,"

"Agreed," Reno said. "Coming now?" The remainders of the group stood and filed slowly after Reno into one of the private rooms.

Rufus, Tseng, Rude and Elena were already waiting there. Tseng looked surprisingly alive after the state they had last seen him in. But he'd had over five years to recover in. Rufus looked rather shaken to see them again and after hearing Cid and Barret's mumbled threats, Tifa couldn't blame him. He looked quite untouched despite the attack and indeed hadn't changed much. His blonde bangs still fell into his intensely blue eyes and there was a strange kind of familiarity in seeing him flick them away. He still favoured white, a rather inappropriately pure colour for someone who had fallen so far from grace. 

The remainders of AVALANCHE sat and stared warily across the table at the remainders of Shinra. There was a long and awkward silence whilst they exchanged evil looks. Yuffie stared adoringly at Reno who blushed under her intense dark gaze. Cloud cleared his throat and everyone stared at him, hoping for some kind of speech.

"So...." He started awkwardly. "Sephiroth is back,"

"It looks like it," Rufus stated. "We came here after his first defeat and there was nothing to report. Recently, however, the guard spell around the entire crater has reformed and the Planet's cries have been heard. Diamond Weapon has also been sighted off the coast of Junon,"

"Bet yer real pleased to hear that ole Weapon is back," Barret couldn't resist. Rufus met his blazing eyes coolly.

"This time round however, there is no Aeris to summon Holy, there is no Sister Ray to attack the Weapons, there are no Shinra resources to stop Meteor. I hardly think it's a laughing matter,"

Reno nodded. "It would take an immensely powerful cannon to break down the guard that Sephiroth has around the crater. Although some of the Shinra funds and resources have been retained, we cannot risk building another cannon even assuming it could be done in time,"

"Why?" Yuffie asked, trying hard to look as though she was enthralled.

"Shinra is effectively dead to the world, as am I," Rufus started. "There would be a massive outcry if Shinra activities began again. The company was held entirely responsible for the destruction of Midgar,"

"Despite you %^£#!&$ Shinra trying to blame it on AVALANCHE!" Cid burst out. "And trying to execute Barret and Tifa on live TV just to keep yourself from being blamed!"

Tseng looked pained. "Why didn't I hear about this?" He asked Elena quietly.

"You were dead then," She whispered back helpfully.

Rufus stood up. "If there is to be any chance whatsoever of defeating Sephiroth this time round, it will require combining our resources and forgetting what may have happened in the past. No-one knows more about the Jenova project than Shinra and if you refuse to co-operate then you may as well summon Meteor yourselves," He paused lengthily. "And believe me, it _is_ that serious. I've heard the Planet's cries for some time now and the voices of those in the lifestream. Sephiroth is recovering slowly down there, festering within the Planet and working back to full power. I'm not particularly fond of Avalanche either, but we're running out of time and unless you work with Shinra, all you worked for will be simply thrown away,"

"He really does like making speeches," Red XIII murmured.

"Does Sephiroth have the Black Materia?" Cloud enquired suddenly.

"Not yet," Tseng frowned. "After his 'defeat', the Black Materia was taken by Emerald Weapon as it defended the Planet. We suspect Emerald Weapon still holds on to it now,"

"That's good, isn't it?" Yuffie asked. "I mean, those monsters are HUGE. One little Sephiroth couldn't kill it.. right?"

"We can't risk it," Rufus stated. "It will take a _lot_ to defeat Emerald, but we believe our best chances stand in regaining the Black Materia ourselves. Then in finding a method to destroy the Guard around the Crater and disposing of Sephiroth at last. Once that is over, the Black Materia must be locked away again,"

"Defeating Emerald will be an enormous operation," Reno added. "It's grown in power over this time. Even the Sister Ray couldn't kill something like this off,"

"Then how...?" Cloud asked thoughtfully. "It would take tremendous magic to destroy something like that,"

"And we don't have the resources of Shinra any more, so we can't experiment with weapon making or Mako energy," Tseng said slowly.

"Experiments... that reminds me of something," Cloud looked up. "It's not really related, but what is Project Kuja?"

"Before my time," Rufus shrugged. "I've heard the name of that project but I believe it was a failure,"

"Project Kuja.." Rude looked suddenly inspired. "Sir, I remember that project. I took great interest in it. The specimen had virtually untapped powers which Shinra looked at for use as a weapon, but sadly it turned on Shinra and turned out to be uncontrollable,"

"Virtually untapped powers?" Rufus frowned. "I never cared much about what Hojo was meddling with. Tell me more about this,"

Rude nodded eagerly. "The creature used within the project used magic in a way we had never seen before. Sir, it had destroyed an entire world before, single-handedly!"

Rufus looked interested. "Is there any way that we could recreate that kind of power within a couple of months? It sounds ideal for defeating Sephiroth,"

"Sadly the project was terminated and destroyed," Rude shrugged. "As far as I know, nothing remains of it,"

"That's not true!" Cloud burst out. "I asked because the project is still alive! It's in a hidden room in the basement of Nibelheim!" There was a long and shocked silence from the remainder of Shinra as they took in the information.

"That old rogue Gast," Rude shook his head. "I guess whatever he told us, he couldn't just destroy something of that strength, hmm?"

"So is there any way we could use Project Kuja to destroy Emerald and take the Black Materia?" Rufus inquired. Rude nodded.

"In theory, yes. But whether it will want to co-operate or not is a different story. The project has reason to hate Shinra, even if it's still sane after all that happened,"

"It looks like our best plan," Red XIII piped up. "We know how strong Sephiroth is. If he gets the Black Materia and gets back in that crater, we won't be able to do anything at all except wait to die!"

"Then it's off to Nibelheim to find the project," Rufus frowned. "At times like this, I really wish Hojo was still around. He may have been a twisted man but he knew better than anyone how to control something like that,"

"It's still a person," Tifa broke in. "It's not a monster or something you can't reason with. Perhaps it can be persuaded to join our side. With Kuja to help us, I'm sure we could defeat Sephiroth once and for all,"

"Then we'll set off to Nibelheim tomorrow," Cloud announced. Rufus glared at him momentarily, annoyed at the loss of authority. Mako-blue eyes met dark blue eyes and after a few minutes Rufus looked away and fiddled with his bangs. 

"We'll leave tomorrow then," He said uncertainly. "I suppose this meeting may as well be dismissed now,"

There was a scuffling of chairs as they filed out. Cloud was one of the last to leave. "Wait one minute!" Rufus called the blonde man over. Cloud frowned, suspicious.

"What do you want?" He asked, a little harshly.

Rufus met his gaze. "You probably know that I've been hearing the voices of the Lifestream and those who have passed on, as a weird kind of retribution?"

Cloud nodded.

"Well.." Rufus pushed his hair from his eyes. "There was one particular voice that wanted to make contact. It was clearer because she wasn't angry.. wasn't judgemental.."

"She?" Cloud looked up.

"Yes, she," Rufus nodded. "The Cetra herself asked me to pass on a message to you. We've been talking for years now. She seems a very special person.. I only wish I could take back what we did to her.." he frowned.

"What message?" Cloud asked, eagerly.

Rufus looked at him steadily. "Cloud, Aeris Gainsborough said she loves you and you have to be strong. But you will meet her again, Cloud. Sooner than you think,"


	7. Chapter 7

****

Another Time, Another Place

Authors Notes- Contains slash, angst, swearing, violence and character death.

****

Pairings- Sephiroth x Kuja, Cloud x Aeris, Vincent x Tifa, Rufus x Tseng, Reno x Yuffie.

****

Disclaimers- I own none of the characters mentioned hither.

That night, Cloud thought about Rufus's words. Could he trust the ex-Shinra President? Somehow he thought he was telling the truth. Did this mean he was.. going to die? The thought brought no terror. He had faced death many times. He had even hoped for death sometimes. After Sephiroth's defeat part of him had toyed with thoughts of suicide. He had stared into the exposed Lifestream at Mideel and thought about simply leaping in and dying there, cradled by waves of souls. Aeris was there somewhere in her afterlife, sending messages to Rufus. But part of him knew it wasn't the answer and now he was proved right. There was another new risk to the world and he had to fight again. Perhaps this time he would be awarded death at the same Masamune that had seperated Aeris from this world.

He frowned. The thought of seeing her again in a world where nothing could trouble them was appealing. But something did not ring true about it. He doubted Aeris would tell him of approaching death although he was sure she could see it. She had seen her own death, he thought. The Cetra had whispered to her and told her what she must do, and she gone to her death unflinchingly, knowing she must cross over to the Lifestream before she could save the world. And there was something that troubled her. Like Tifa had said, Aeris had always talked about the future and meeting again. He had assumed that she meant in the Lifestream but that had never seemed quite right. After all of her talking about meeting again and coming back, did this mean that.. she would return to him? After this threat was removed from the world, perhaps she would be allowed to return? He hardly dared hope for it. Rufus may have heard her voice, but he was hardly the most stable person around. It didn't mean anything. He quashed the rising hope within his heart and went to sleep.

- - - - - - - -

The next day was frosty and bright. Cloud rose late and found the rest of them waiting for him downstairs in the inn. Cid looked distinctly unhappy about letting Shinra members near his precious Highwind again. Cloud didn't think the chances of Rufus running off with it were particularly high and told him so.

As they left the inn, they were attacked by a snowball-wielding Yuffie who seemed quite recovered from her ordeal. Despite the serious situation, Barret found great glee in seeing the former President and Turks being attacked by snowballs. His glee ended when Yuffie dumped the remainder of her snowballs down his back and ran off.

The sun was up and the sky was clear, so the long walk seemed more pleasant this time. Flash was still limping slightly still and so they spared the Chocobo from carrying a heavy load. After the first hour, they had to stop after Rufus threatened to faint. The former President wasn't used to great physical exertion. Yuffie immediately took up where she had left off and pranced around throwing snowballs and taunting the whole group, stopped only after Cid cunningly threw a snowball into her open mouth with great accuracy.

When they finally reached the Highwind, they settled back for a two or three hour journey to Nibelheim. Tifa headed for a deck, wishing to avoid the talk of war and such. She found Vincent already there and the two of them watched the land flash by in comfortable silence.

Yuffie sat in the stable with her Chocobo, fussing over the cut which had healed almost entirely now. It was surprisingly useful for taking her mind off her motion-sickness. And she didn't want to go to the main room where the air was thick with tension and unspoken accusations.

"Approaching Nibelheim!" Cid brought the Highwind down expertly, landing it within a short distance of the strange village.

"Who is going in?" Cloud asked. "We can't all rush in without causing a stir," After a few minutes, Cloud eventually agreed to take Vincent and Red XIII. He trusted the two to not get carried away in battle if there was any trouble. "I suppose I should go," Rufus said uneasily. "The locks on the storage for dangerous experiments usually needed a clearance code. If you try to break it by force you could do a lot of damage,". Cloud nodded. It made sense.

"Do you know the code?" He asked.

"I was the bloody President," Rufus pointed out. "My code opens everything that was Shinra property whether it was the Sister Ray blueprints or the cleaner's supplies,"

"Fair enough," Cloud didn't want a confrontation. "Then let's get going," He led the group through the village which was as quiet and unsettling as ever. 

"This is Nibelheim?" Red XIII looked uneasy.

"Not really," Cloud shot Rufus a dark look. "After the village was destroyed and everyone killed, Shinra covered it up by rebuilding the place and hiring actors. It may look the same but it was completely rebuilt 12 years ago,"

There was something frightening about the area and especially the intimidating abandoned mansion that Rufus only dimly remembered. He'd been there once when he was perhaps 14 or 15, shortly before the village was burnt down. Then, it had seemed like a pleasant, beautifully-decorated place where Shinra employees had stayed whilst on assignments in the area. It had been somewhat less pleasant when he had discovered how much research had been done in the basement and how many lives had been destroyed and quietly covered up down there.

Cloud opened the massive doors. "There are a lot of monsters here now," He warned Rufus and Red XIII. "Stay close," They went quickly through the dark rooms with ruined, tattered furnishings. Soft rustles and clicks came from just outside their vision. Some of these monsters had just moved in, some were the survivors of various experiments.

Into the basement. Rufus had rarely visited any of Hojo's labratories and never this one. It was nothing like the brightly lit, sterile labs he remembered and more like an ancient torture chamber. Cloud and Vincent quietly went to work on the Seal spells and opening the locked doors whilst Red XIII and Rufus waited in awkward silence. Red XIII wasn't a judgemental creature but Rufus couldn't meet his eyes knowing much of the work here had been under Shinra's orders.

"You two coming?" They suddenly noticed the spells had been removed and followed Cloud and Vincent into the dark rooms that had been hidden from the world for so long.

"Ok, get to work on the opening mechanism," Cloud pointed it out. Rufus warily eyed the creature that floated, suspended in time. The machine was rather out-dated compared to those he had known, but operating it was quite simple. He typed in his code quickly and there was a sudden click. They all backed away as the machine sprang to life.

Four great metal bolts held the glass front in place. There was a whirring as they sprang out and soft wisps of blueish mist curled around the edges. The entire front was flipped upwards with a quiet hum and a rush of blue liquid as Project Kuja was released from his glass prison.

The blue haze tendrils curled and slowly disappeared, revealing Kuja. He knelt, almost unmoving and disorientated before them. Silver hair obscured his face. They discreetly reached for their weapons, watching for sudden movement.

"Kuja?" Red XIII made the first move. He slowly approached and sat quietly before the unmoving figure. He knew well how it felt when you were hauled up before scientists. One hand twitched and then swept silver hair from his eyes.

"Who are you?" The words came slowly, spoken in a strange and faintly cultured accent. He stood painfully and regarded the group. Reddish tendrils of light flickered around the tips of his fingers and they instinctively backed away.

"We aren't anything to do with Shinra," Cloud stepped forward. "The Shinra company doesn't exist any more.."

He was scanned by deep blue eyes. Mako-infused eyes. "Shinra..."

"They're over," Rufus said softly. The light brightened momentarily around Kuja and then faded. He seemed wary, but not about to blast them with a spell any time soon.

"Then what do you-" Kuja was cut off as he swayed suddenly and leant against the side of the open glass cage for support. Cloud approached. "Are you ok?" He asked. Kuja answered by falling unconscious to the ground.


	8. Chapter 8

****

Another Time, Another Place

Authors Notes- Contains slash, angst, swearing, violence and character death.

****

Pairings- Sephiroth x Kuja, Cloud x Aeris, Vincent x Tifa, Rufus x Tseng, Reno x Yuffie.

****

Disclaimers- I own none of the characters mentioned hither.

Within a few minutes they had transferred Kuja to on of the rooms on the Highwind. The rest of the crew had no idea, as they waited in the main room. Cid was distinctly unhappy when he found out.

"What if that %^&!£$# wakes up and decides to blast his way out of my goddamn ship?!" He asked unhappily, stroking the control panel of his ship protectively.

"He's been sedated quite heavily," Tseng replied. "Rufus found some useful drugs in the laboratory that should prevent him doing anything too violent,"

"What about casting a Silence spell?" Tifa asked.

"Done it," Vincent replied. "He should be unconscious for a good few hours yet. Elena and Rude are taking guard,"

"Good," Rufus looked unhappy. "That's one of the most dangerous specimens Shinra have ever handled,"

Barret growled softly. "Maybe if those $%^#&!£s hadn't messed with livin' people in the first place we wouldn't be in this mess,"

"It's too late to say that now," Tifa said with a strange smile. "We'll just have to hope for the best and carry on with what we've got,"

"That reminds me," Yuffie turned to Reno. "How long have we got before Sephy gets himself out of that crater and after the Black Materia?"

"Perhaps a month or two," Reno pondered. "He's certainly recovering but not particularly fast. Not surprising after he was Omnislashed into the ground,"

"So we have time to get Mr Kuja on our side," Cid spoke up. 

"Maybe.." Reno looked rather dark and turned away.

- - - - - - - - 

It was almost eight hours before Kuja showed signs of life. When he finally opened his eyes, it was to discover himself under a Silence spell with Rufus, Cloud and Vincent in the room.

"We'll remove the spell in a minute," Cloud said apologetically. "Once we've told you our story,"

Kuja regarded him with dark troubled eyes and nodded faintly. Cloud began. It took over an hour to tell the full story. He talked about when it had started with Avalanche resisting against Shinra. He talked about the early operations and the meeting with Sephiroth. He told the story of the Ancients and Aeris's end in the Temple. Up until the final defeat of Sephiroth and the recent news they had received that he stirred again and their need for assistance in this battle. Then he removed the spell and they waited to be blasted into oblivion with a dose of Ultima.

It never came. Kuja scanned them all and then spoke after a long pause.

"I can't help you,"

He had been expecting this answer. Cloud sighed. "Why can't you help us?" He asked the fallen sorcerer. "If you don't, everyone and everything in this world will die. Aeris's sacrifice will be in vain,"

"Why would that bother me?" Kuja's voice was slow and painful. "I destroyed a whole planet and almost brought down another.."

"Could you tell us why?" Vincent asked. His red eyes were unreadable. Kuja looked away.

"I won't talk about it," The same answer that Shinra had received after all of their enquiries when he had simply cut himself off from the world. It was Vincent who read the slight change in expression and recognised something. Guilt. He motioned to the other two who left the room.

"It's your decision," Vincent leaned forward. "We won't push you to say or do anything. But what do you have to lose? Perhaps you made some mistakes in your world. I know I've made some terrible ones before. But I look upon this as my way of atoning for all I have done,"

"What did you do?" Kuja asked after a pause, interested.

Vincent sighed. "I worked for Shinra for years as a Turk. Do you hate me now?" He smiled slightly. There was silence and he went on. 

"I killed a lot of people throughout the years without even caring about it. To me, it was just my career. It never troubled me for an instant. Then I let the woman I had loved take part in a terrible experiment. She was infused with Mako, impregnated by Hojo as part of his plan for modifying people. I didn't stop him.." Vincent bowed his head. "When I finally saw sense and went to save her, it was too late. She was lost and gave birth to Sephiroth. I paid a small price thanks to Hojo," He smiled bitterly. "Multiple experiments left me barely human. I am more demon than a person,"

"That's not so terrible.." Kuja seemed interested. At least he wasn't shutting himself off completely. 

"Isn't it? You could say I am directly responsible for Sephiroth infecting the world. I knew it was wrong and I didn't stop it," Vincent faded into silence. "That's how I lost Lucrecia.."

Kuja's eyes lowered. "I'm not exactly human either,"

"I read something about genomes?" Vincent said in a neutral tone.

"Yes. I'm not human at all. I was my maker's Angel of Death, until it was time to be replaced.." Kuja stopped abruptly, aware he had said too much.

"You were created?" Vincent asked.

"That's why I cannot help you. I am as much of a creation as Sephiroth. Indeed, in my world I was feared more than Sephiroth is in yours. With good reason,"

"Could you tell me your story?" Vincent was aware he was treading on dangerous territory here. Whatever Kuja had done, he bitterly regretted and probably didn't want to bring up again. But he needed to hear it.

"Yes.." The voice was so faint and quiet that he barely heard it. Vincent leaned forward to listen.

- - - - - - -

Kuja's story took an equally long time to tell. As Vincent listened, the mage painted a vision of his world. Of two co-existing planets and a life as an Angel of Death, killing as obediently as a Turk. A life with genomes who were created and used like machines. And how he had unconsciously grown to echo his despised maker, creating his monsters and black mages to use and destroy. He saw the destructions of whole cities under Kuja's command, the giant Bahamut wreaking havoc throughout the land. The death of the Summoners and the end of Queen Brahne as her own monster was turned against her. Then on to the final battle when he realised he was as dispensable as his own despised black mages. He killed his maker and released Ultima on lands in a fury, planning to destroy the worlds if he could not rule them. And then finally realising what it was to live, after his hated younger brother came to rescue him. It had been too late to do much besides teleport them to safety. And as he resigned himself to an early death, he had been pulled from there and brought to the tender mercies of Shinra.

When it finally ended, Vincent was silent. Kuja had indeed done some terrible things. But he had been a mere puppet through much of it. There was an element of tragedy to his rise and downfall that seemed to echo Sephiroth's life. But unlike Sephiroth, Kuja had finally realised how wrong he had been. They remained in the room talking through much of the night. After several hours they finally fell silent when it was broken by a thin, tired voice as the young mage came to a decision.

"..I'll do it,"


	9. Chapter 9

****

Another Time, Another Place

Authors Notes- Contains slash, angst, swearing, violence and character death.

****

Pairings- Sephiroth x Kuja, Cloud x Aeris, Vincent x Tifa, Rufus x Tseng, Reno x Yuffie.

****

Disclaimers- I own none of the characters mentioned hither.

They held the first conference as a group the next day. Kuja still seemed a little cautious and it was quite understandable. He didn't contribute to the conversation, preferring to listen. The others were still cautious and somewhat suspicious of him which he supposed was understandable. He used the time to examine the others in the crew and read their auras, a useful trick he had picked up some time ago.

He regarded Cloud coolly as the blonde man gave some speech. He reminded Kuja of Zidane in many ways, although he was colder and less impulsive. Defeating Sephiroth had obviously been a long and hard ordeal, he could hear the way his voice faltered occasionally and those Mako eyes went blank. Whenever the name _Aeris _was mentioned, the blonde man's ivory aura was cut through by tiny jagged red lines. Great trauma there.

There was tension between Cloud and Tifa which the mage had picked up on instantly. They were joined by a strange aura- a strong pink. Friendship, loving purely as comrades. But there was a tiny struggling crimson flame dancing there that stayed by Tifa. Real love? Perhaps they had been close once? He could see it in the way she looked at him, a little despairingly and with a certain wistfulness at times. Tifa seemed a nice person, friendly and warm at once. It was a shame that any sadness should ever darken those sparkling ruby eyes. 

Red XIII interested him, although in his world there were many non-humans far stranger than the lion-like creature and capable of speech. The creature seemed intelligent and was friendly towards Kuja. His aura showed no hostility, but great worry. Vincent? He could identify with the rather dark, silent man. Their lives were similar in many ways. He seemed very distant and emotionless, lost in a crimson aura that flickered to scarlet around the edges when the name _Hojo_ was mentioned.

Cid? His blue eyes flickered to the blonde pilot who leaned casually against a wall. Kuja couldn't tell much about him although he was usually good at picking up a person's character. Barret? The tall man's dark gaze had alternated between staring at Kuja and Rufus with equal suspicion. His aura was a brooding steel gray. He was hard to read. Kuja gathered his thoughts and _pushed_ a weak manipulating spell towards Barret. The man jumped instantly. 'Rufus is planning something' He told the black man silently and saw the instant flush of red race around the edges of his aura as his gunhand jerked upward. Very on edge. With a sight, Kuja dispelled the manipulation before anything happened.

The Turks seemed almost as one unit, he pondered. Elena was anxious to prove herself and more naive than the others. Rude was rather fussy about following orders where Reno seemed rather laid back. And Tseng- well, that _was_ interesting. His aura overlapped with that of Rufus's. Some relationship there? He studied the way they interacted. Tseng seemed fiercely protective although perhaps that was just regarded as part of his job. To an outsider, anyway. He smiled slowly and felt Barret's eyes blaze again. Did he look so suspicious? He flicked a strand of silver hair from his eyes and met the intense gaze steadily.

Barret was troubled. He was torn between the arrogant former President and the cool, rather unearthly mage that had been labelled a great danger by one of the most powerful companies in the world. How could they possibly succeed against Sephiroth with people they couldn't trust within the group? He'd come to trust the others.. Cloud, Cid, Red XIII- even the strange and silent Vincent. But now they were expected to pair up with their enemy and someone who could be just as dangerous as Sephiroth? By his own admission he had killed and destroyed without a second thought. Well, Barret would keep an eye on them. Both of them.

Barret was worried again. Kuja smiled faintly and stared down at the table surface. A pen lay abandoned in front of him and he idly pushed it with his mind. Back and forward, back and forward.. tiny, controlled movements. He hadn't practised this in a long time.

"Kuja?" The mage's head jerked upward and the pen shot forward and skittered off the end of the table. No-one seemed to notice.

"Hmm?" He inquired, a million miles away in thought.

"Would you be capable of destroying the Guard spell around the crater?" Cloud repeated the question patiently. Kuja considered.

"I'm quite confident of my abilities.." He began slowly. "A Guard, or Protect spell shouldn't be impossible to break. I believe it is a strong one though?"

"We had to use the Sister Ray to destroy it," Rufus piped up, flicking his blonde bangs in a familiar way. "It was the strongest known cannon to be designed- powered by immense quantites of Mako energy. It cut straight through Weapon and destroyed the spell. Sadly it was damaged beyond repair after Meteor,"

Kuja frowned. "I'm sure I can do it," He said idly. It sounded arrogant but he _was_ confident of his own powers. Under Trance, he was virtually indestructable. Whoever Sephiroth was, he couldn't be any worse than Zidane. He noticed a raised eyebrow from Cid. Did they doubt him? He shrugged, not particularly concerned.

"Then we'll go after Emerald Weapon soon and regain the Black Materia," Cloud stated. "I'm sure Yuffie will be delighted to supply the whole group with materia, hmm?"

Yuffie scowled furiously upon hearing that and pushed her short dark hair from her eyes. "I nev-" She began.

"Lovely," Cloud beamed. "We'll take the Highwind to the submarine which is currently at Junon Harbour and then locate Emerald Weapon,"

"We'll fight that thing underwater?" Barret looked unhappy.

Cloud held up an Underwater Materia. "This thing will cast a bubble of air around the whole group. Don't worry about it,"

"We're _all_ going to attack it?" Tifa asked suddenly. Usually they only fought in groups of three or so.

"I don't know how else we will beat it," Cloud frowned. "It's back and far stronger than before. The Planet wouldn't let just anything defend the Black Materia now, would it?" They nodded slowly. "So we'll take everyone and attack at the same time," Rufus looked distinctly pale upon hearing that. Barret hid a smirk. Didn't look like pretty boy Shinra had planned on actually fighting Emerald himself. Not that he himself was too cheery. He remembered sighting the massive Weapon as they had drifted around in the submarine. It was immense, a solid wall of heavy armour. But maybe with this Kuja fella and the Turks (he hated to admit it but they were good at fighting) they'd actually stand a chance. And maybe they wouldn't and Sephiroth would come along with that Masamune of his and take the Materia and it would all be in vain. Either way.

"We'll leave tomorrow!" Cloud stood and dismissed them. "Wait there!" He called as Rufus left. The ex-President scowled and walked over.

"Question," Cloud asked. "When you hear the Lifestream," He paused slowly. "Have you ever heard Sephiroth's voice in it?"

Rufus looked down. "I used to, sometimes," He frowned. "He did die, that was for sure. I could hear him in the Lifestream. He was lost and terribly confused. And he was there, always there. The others-well, they move on to the afterlife and only spoke when they wanted to tell me something.." Cloud could imagine the sorts of things the former President would have heard from voices of the dead, especially those killed by Shinra or in Mako reactor accidents. For a moment, he actually felt sorry for Rufus. "But Sephiroth, his presence was always there. He never really spoke to me directly. I don't think he even knew who I was or even who he was. Too much still held him to this world and he was suspended in the Lifestream. But I can't tell you why he came back. All I know is that about a year ago his voice ceased. And several months later the first signs of activity appeared at the Crater. We headed up to take a look at it and he seems to have been resurrected,"

"Do you think Aeris will be resurrected?" Cloud asked eagerly. "She always talked about coming back and she said she would meet me again-"

"I kind of assumed she meant on the other side," Rufus said bluntly. "But if Sephiroth can come back, maybe the Planet will let Aeris come back after this is over. After all, her sacrifice made it possible for the first defeat of Sephiroth,"

Cloud nodded wistfully. He prayed that he would see the pretty Cetra again, even if it meant he must die and cross over. The final sickening scene in which Sephiroth had impaled her as she prayed for the life of the Planet on the altar played over and over in his mind at night. Seeing her wide, impossibly green eyes open with pain, but no fear or shock. She knew he was coming and what she had to do. It seemed so unfair that she wouldn't be rewarded after all she had done. Of course, she had gone on to the afterlife but was that so wonderful without Cloud? He felt rather arrogant but he didn't think she _was_ happy without him. He left Rufus standing there and wandered alone to the deck to think.

As he stood there in the shadows, watching the stars speckle the pure black sky, he was suddenly aware of someone else entering the deck. Hastily, he moved behind a crate. He really didn't want to talk to anyone right not.

Just Vincent, silently staring down at the sleeping world. And then another person came out, long dark hair swishing from side to side in the faint night breeze. _Tifa?_ Cloud watched as she crossed over to Vincent and they talked quietly together. Was it his imagination or was the tall man actually being friendly with Tifa? Normally he was so cool and distant, but now he was meeting her ruby gaze and being positively civil. And it wasn't just that.. he recognised Tifa's little mannerisms as she fiddled with a loose strand of her and stared up into Vincent's eyes. She was flirting? Cloud felt a bitter rush of jealousy threaten which died almost instantly. He had loved Tifa, that was true. But it was Aeris who he now adored and he supposed that he hadn't been fair to Tifa. She'd kept a flame burning for him all these years and he had rejected her. If she now had a chance of happiness with Vincent- well, he wasn't going to stand in the way. '_Good luck, Tifa_' he wished her silently and let her go from his heart.

- - - - - - - - 

"Emerald.." Rufus paced the room he was sharing with Tseng unhappily. "Damn it, it took the Sister Ray to bring one of those monsters down! One of them killed me!"

Tseng let him rant away. "You look quite alive to me, sir," He pointed out. Rufus frowned and flicked his blonde bangs from his eyes in that familiar gesture.

"Sephiroth looks quite alive too and he was supposed to be dead," Rufus pointed out. "I refuse to think there was any way I could have survived being blasted by that _thing_ and then falling 60 floors and waking up days later after the whole thing was over, way outside Midgar,"

"It does sound a little odd," Tseng said. He too had wondered how Rufus had possibly survived the attack. "You think you actually died?"

"I do," Rufus said. "I even remember after it hit- I was thrown from the top floor instantly but I remember being _in_ the lifestream and don't tell me I was hallucinating or imagining things,"

"I suppose it makes sense," Tseng replied slowly. "And hearing the Lifestream too.. well, that's not usual. Only the Cetra are supposed to hear the voices of the dead. Perhaps you were brought back to atone in some way?"

Rufus looked unhappy. "I suppose so. I hope fighting that bloody Weapon counts as atonement. If I die for the Planet, that should make up for some of it. Then maybe it will stop making me listen to dead people blaming _me_ for everything,"

"Whatever happened, I'm just glad you're back," Tseng said daringly. Rufus looked up.

"Really?" He frowned again. "I thought you'd be quite appalled to discover it. After all, it was my fault you almost died by Sephiroth,"

"All in the job description," Tseng replied. "When I recovered, Sephiroth was dead and I came back to Midgar to discover Shinra in ruins and you supposedly dead. It was.. hell,"

"............."

Their eyes met, Tseng's dark Wutainese gaze against Rufus's intense blue. No need for words. A second later, Rufus found himself pinned against the wall by Tseng who he discovered tasted pleasantly of cinnamon. _'Oh well,' _Rufus thought to himself _'If I die tomorrow, at least I'll have made the most of my last night,'_


	10. Chapter 10

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Another Time, Another Place

Authors Notes- Contains slash, angst, swearing, violence and character death.

****

Pairings- Sephiroth x Kuja, Cloud x Aeris, Vincent x Tifa, Rufus x Tseng, Reno x Yuffie.

****

Disclaimers- I own none of the characters mentioned hither.

The next day dawned clear and bright. A fine day to die, Vincent mused as he stared moodily over the deck. Normally the thought of dying at the hands of Weapon wouldn't trouble him, but after last night with Tifa, death didn't seem quite so attractive. He'd been chasing it for years since Lucrecia had died and now it looked like he finally had a reason to live. Vincent wasn't deluding himself- he knew of Weapon's strength and that it was very likely that not all of them would survive the battle. Even with thirteen of them against Weapon, the chances of success were quite low. Thirteen, he thought morbidly. Thirteen should never eat together, should thirteen never fight together either? Who would survive? There were so many lives to be lost tomorrow. Yuffie, the bright and cheery ninja girl and the princess of Wutai. Tifa, the brave woman he had come to think so much of. Cloud, who had already given the Planet so much. Red XIII, who had sworn to protect his canyon no matter what. Cid, with a family back home waiting for his return. Barret, who Marlene and Corel Town relied on. Himself.. well, he had nothing to bind him to this world besides Tifa of course. And then there was Kuja, troubled but so much like Vincent himself. If he died, what would they do? The Turks.. Tseng, Reno, Rude and Elena.. they were fairly dispensable. No-one really relied on them any more. And Rufus of course, he could prove useful in the future. Which would survive against Emerald? And which would still be alive after Sephiroth? He was interrupted by his morbid wonderings by Tifa who came out onto the deck. She looked worried, but optimistic, her ponytail shining in the morning sun and her eyes wide and trusting. "Coming in?" She asked. He nodded and followed her.

The rest of the crew were seated in the conference room, chatting idly and trying to hide their tension. Various weapons were being serviced and checked. Materia was exchanged freely between them. Yuffie's own collection was a small mountain of coloured orbs gathered from all over the world. "You know, the walls of the Highwind aren't that soundproof, Mr Shinra," Elena said rather loudly, looking up from a Summon Materia she was examining with a mischievous smile. Silence fell upon the group as everyone listened in and Tifa smirked as Rufus suddenly became fascinated by an ordinary Restore Materia. "Whose the lucky lady-" Rude began and stopped as Tseng's nightstick 'slipped' from his hands and prodded him viciously. There was laughter and the tension lifted momentarily. 

An hour later, they were as ready as they would ever be. The air of anticipation had fallen upon them again, each secretly wondering if they would survive the day. Yuffie was too worried to feel airsick, something Cid was immensely grateful for. He had set the course for Junon and now all they had to do was wait.

When they finally arrived, they filed off slowly and headed down to the harbour. Junon had been virtually abandoned after Shinra had fallen. Kuja was attracted by a huge banner, torn and weathered, that still declared proudly that Rufus was the president for a New Age. He looked quizzically at Rufus who shrugged. "Yeah, that was me," He said quietly. The one-proud harbour was still scarred by missiles from Diamond Weapon's attack. "This was the first time the damn thing nearly got me," He explained to Kuja who seemed fascinated by anything to do with Weapons. His office was still there, the enormous plate glass window shattered beyond repair. "Just a minute!" Rufus said suddenly "I used to keep some weapons in the safe here- might be something useful,"

"Gettin' nostalgic?" Barret asked as he followed the former president into the magnificent room. It had fallen into disrepair but seemed untouched by vandals or monsters.

"Not really," Rufus replied as he fiddled with the safe combination. "All I did here was fill in a hell of a lot of paperwork and give orders for blowing up various things," Barret examined the papers scattered across the desk. After Diamond Weapon had attacked and the Sister Ray moved to Midgar, Junon had been left virtually untouched.

"Execution procedure?" His voice was accusing. Rufus winced. 

"Yes, yes, I've said I'm sorry," He said bitterly. "It wasn't like I had much choice. _Someone_ had to be blamed to reassure the public. It wasn't the easiest of jobs, you know,"

Barret refrained from saying any more. With a whir the safe door opened and he stared into the best-equipped weapon room he had ever seen. Shinra's finest developed weapons, some of them unknown to Barret, were revealed. "D'you reckon a rocket launcher will do anything against Weapon?" Rufus asked, unloading various pieces.

"It jest might," Barret said admiringly, taking up the huge weapon. "How does this thing work?"

An hour later they were fully equipped with some of the best weapons Shinra could provide. The harbour had fallen into an even sadder state. One of the tunnels had collapsed entirely and most of them were overrun with monsters that teemed through the abandoned rooms.

"Here," Cloud pointed out the submarine where they had left it years ago. "Will it still work?"

"I should think so," Rude stepped forward and examined it. "One of the best models we had. These things were built to last!"

"Let's go then," Red XIII said determinedly as he leapt into the open hatch. The rest followed suit, squashing into the rather small space with a little trouble.

"Right," Cloud settled himself in the familiar driver's seat. "How does this thing work again?" He studied the panel which seemed fairly familiar. "Oh yeah," He pushed a button and the hatch swung closed. A light lit up, indicating it was ready to go. He flipped another switch and the submarine descended into the depths of the sea.

There were wide windows and everyone gathered around these. The sea seemed so peaceful and undisturbed. The water was a pale and clear green, no longer tainted by Mako waste. Strange forests of underwater plants swayed ghostly and pale. A shoal of tiny fish darted against the window and rushed away like butterflies. Yuffie breathed against the glass as she pressed her nose against it. "It's so beautiful!" She said admiringly. A weird twisted rock sculpture caught her eye. At the base of it lay the twisted remains of some old Shinra sub. Passageways twisted through the rock walls of the continents leading to inland lakes and rivers. There was a whole new world down here that very few ever got to see.

"Anything on the radar yet?" Vincent inquired. Cloud shook his head.

"It could take hours to find Emerald," He stated. "The oceans are so vast.. but once it sees us, it will be upon us in an instant," Yuffie shivered and tightened her grip on her weapon. She checked again they had the Underwater Materia equipped. 

"I'm picking up something!" Cloud said suddenly. The radar beeped frantically. He ran a quick scan to estimate the size. It was huge and it was heading towards them. Yuffie scrambled over to the window and yelped. A huge green shape was approaching. Two eyes glared with pure hatred at the metal invader. "Let's go!"

She raised her hand and cast the Underwater Materia over the entire group. An air bubble spread, encompassing them all as they pushed open the hatch and climbed out into it. Emerald Weapon was approaching rapidly, sending waves of water pulsing against their suddenly very fragile seeming protection. Tifa closed her eyes and sent a silent prayer. '_Aeris, look over us,'_

An unearthly screech rose as the Weapon tore into the air bubble which grew to encompass it, locking all of them into a giant arena miles below the sea. Yuffie raced forward, her heart pounding. She struck first, calling upon Ultima. There was a sudden movement as Tifa leapt besides her and raised an MP Turbo, combining her powers to create a swirl of unholy ultimate magic. Emerald hissed as it was swallowed by green pulsing light which burnt through the defences and caused it to writhe with pain. A laser struck back, countering. Tifa deftly cast a Protect Spell which bounced the laser away with little damage.

"Flare Star," A voice came calmly and she turned to see Kuja floating above the group effortlessly. A sudden fiery blast struck the Weapon, seeming to come from _within_, blinding them all as flames flickered from the heart. Tifa had never seen an attack like that- it was like Flare, but far stronger and more intense. Emerald screamed again, lashing out with a tentacle. Kuja was not fast enough and Yuffie winced as the mage hit the ground hard. The backlash struck Elena on the shoulder and she dropped her gun with a soft cry. 

"Cure 3!" Reno bounded forward and cast his spell over the entire group. A feeling of revitalisation rushed through Elena and she sent a wave of flames towards Emerald.

"Tornado," Vincent said coolly and a sudden tornado swept forward, combining with Elena's attack. The firestorm swept round the writhing monster which screeched in an unearthly way. A sudden dose of dark magick fell from above and the whole party collapsed, blind and helpless.

Cloud reached into his pocket for the eye drops he knew where there. Blindly, he used them and blinked as the scene was cleared. All except Kuja had been affected and as he watched the mage sent a white beam pulsing into the monster's vulnerable eyes. Those tentacles lashed out wildly again. Cloud threw himself over Tifa as one threatened to strike her. There was a sickening pain lancing through his back and he gasped for breath.

"Esuna," Kuja cast another spell and healing rays fell gently from above, lifting the blindness from the entire party. Cloud staggered to his feet, feeling a rush of anger course through him. He hefted his blade and charged as a blinding light surrounded him. Omnislash! The blonde man leapt wildly and swung the blade uncontrollably, feeling it tear into the Weapon repeatedly as he was lost in rage. When the blade finally fell from his grip he saw numerous gashes, cut clean through the armour by the power of his Limit.

The battle raged on. Comets were summoned, like tiny versions of Meteor, they struck the Weapon and drove it almost into the ground. A dose of Freeze held it unmoving whilst Kuja cast Flare Star repeatedly, burning deep black scars into the mighty creature. The Turks and Rufus preferred weapons to magic, and missiles came thick and fast like some deadly rain. Once, Yuffie's shuriken flew straight and true and left the monster screaming as one eye collapsed inward like a punctured balloon. But slowly, Weapon was winning. Once Yuffie got too close and it stamped on her with an enormous, plated foot. Tifa cried out as the vulnerable young girl was left still and unmoving. The Protect spell prevented her from being injured internally but she was unconscious and bloodied. Another quick magic spell brought them all to their knees and the next blow sent Red XIII flying from sight. Tifa wiped blood from her eyes as a sudden blow split the skin of her forehead and everything was lost through a scarlet rain.

Vincent reached limit break and there was a few moments of relief as the Chaos demon tore into Weapon with vicious strength. But then another devastating spell left Chaos unmoving and still, wings crumpled and torn. Tifa reached her own limit break and grimly battered at the creature with her finely honed martial arts. It made little or no impression and the next blow left her on her knees unable to stand.

The worst attack yet came just after Cid and Barret combined their strength to launch a devastating attack upon Weapon and Cloud backed them up with a blast of pure energy from the mighty Bahamut Zero. Another blow from the creature knocked Tifa unconscious and left the rest barely alive. The former Shinra members looked grimly at their remaining ammunition. Dark Nation, Rufus's faithful pet monster was lying on his side in a pool of blood. Cloud leaned on his sword for balance as he prepared for one final attack and prayed that they would succeed here and not die and leave the Black Materia to Sephiroth. Then a sudden red glow flushed across the ocean. Kuja had Tranced.

The mage rose slowly in a ball of light. His physical appearance changed, as he turned a deathly white and his eyes and hair darkened to crimson. A faint smile played upon his lips as he rose above them all and raised a slender hand. There was a crack and a high whistling as he summoned his most powerful attack. Ultima.

Purple spears of light rained from heaven, encircling the monster in a wave of pure energy. The unholy light pulsed around it, growing and constricting. With a deafening crash, the circle collapsed inward and exploded in a beam of light that could be seen far above the ocean as a towering column of unearthly brightness. The Weapon's dying screeches cut through the ocean as it swayed and then shot one last, devastating ice attack before falling heavily and lying still.

The ice spears lanced towards the group. As Rufus knelt, regaining strength, one headed directly towards the weakened man. There was a sudden flash as Tseng pulled himself to his feet and threw himself in front of it. A soft cry escaped him as he fell heavily, landing on the rocky ground with a soft thud. The ice spear protruded from his chest, tipped with his blood, running freely down the melting ice weapon and spilling onto the ocean floor. He didn't move as Rufus knelt by his side and cast cure spells uselessly.

Cloud was first to stir. He pulled himself to his feet and weakly staggered over to Tifa. Unconscious, as so many of them were. He gently unclipped one materia from her armband and used the last of his strength to summon it. Phoenix.

  
A gentle red light flushed over the fallen group as Phoenix's reviving powers bathed them with soft glowing energy. Tifa stirred first.

"Did.. did we succeed?" She asked painfully. Cloud nodded. 

  
"I guess so," He said and watched as Emerald Weapon evaporated into greenish light. All that remained was a tiny black stone. He walked over slowly and lifted it, felt the power of this tiny materia that could bring the Planet itself to its knees.

The rest were stirring painfully. All except one. Tseng was still and surrounded by the Turks and Rufus who were silent. Elena was crying without noise, tears splashing down onto the unmoving man as the ice that impaled him slowly turned to water and trickled away, diluting the blood to a pale pink stream.

"Is he .. gone?" Cloud asked as he knelt besides them. Rufus held Tseng's still hand and didn't say a word. Cloud reached down and gently felt for a pulse. Nothing. "He's dead," The cold man said as gently as he could. Elena broke down and Rude put an arm around her shaking shoulders. Rufus didn't make a single sound as he stared down at the man who had died protecting him.

- - - - - - - - -

There was no celebration that night. Even Barret, who had no fondness for the Turks, was unable to think badly of the way Tseng had died. Rufus seemed to be in shock. Tifa and Elena had gone to stay with him and the blonde man had hardly moved at all. When he did speak, his words seemed strange and out of context, a classic syndrome of someone in severe shock. Once he looked up at Elena and abruptly said "About moving that cannon-" and then stopped, suddenly realising his mistake. It had been over seven years since the cannon had been moved to Midgar. His sense of time was as badly thrown out as anything else.

"No improvement?" Cloud asked as Tifa came to the main room, her eyes heavy with tears.

"None. He isn't even thinking properly.." She sighed heavily. "I just don't know what to do now,"

"I suppose we can get by without him for the rest of the journey," Cloud said softly. Even if the man had been an enemy, no-one deserved to watch their... friend? lover? ... die before them in such a way. "Poor Tseng. He didn't even stop to think before jumping in the way,"

Tifa nodded. "Perhaps one of the Turks could keep an eye on Rufus when we go on to the Crater," She said quietly. "I suppose we can get by without-"

"Without me?" Rufus entered the room suddenly. He looked rather impassive. His eyes were dry and he had the look of someone who had survived through great tragedies. Beaten, but not defeated. "I'm coming with you,"

"... Are you sure?" Cloud asked. Rufus nodded and flicked his bangs out of his eyes again.

"I'm sure," He turned half away and Cloud saw for the first time the leader that Rufus could have been. Shinra could have been so great, if Rufus had not been so misled. He nodded.

"Very well then. We're resting at Kalm tonight and tomorrow, then pushing onward to the Crater," Cloud spoke, crossing over to the window and gazing out onto the world before them. "We'll need to guard the Black Materia carefully in case Sephiroth proves to be stronger than we thought," There were nods of assent all round.

That night, as they rested in the inn in the pretty little village, Rufus listened to the senseless babble of voices from the Lifestream with more care than usual. He wouldn't tell any of the others, but when he had been in shock following Tseng's death he had heard the soft voice of that Cetra speaking to him, reassuring him more than the living's words ever could. Tseng was happy to have given his life to save Rufus. His end had been painless and he had spoken with Aeris who had reassured him. And some day, she promised Rufus, Tseng would return too. He had died fighting for the Planet, and the Planet had promised his return. And what Aeris did not tell him was that Rufus was redeeming himself slowly in the eyes of the Lifestream. His second chance had not been a mistake.


	11. Chapter 11

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Another Time, Another Place

Authors Notes- Contains slash, angst, swearing, violence and character death.

****

Pairings- Sephiroth x Kuja, Cloud x Aeris, Vincent x Tifa, Rufus x Tseng, Reno x Yuffie.

****

Disclaimers- I own none of the characters mentioned hither.

Vincent and Red XIII had taken first guard over the Black Materia. They guarded it within their room with great care. It would take a remarkable person to get past the keen senses and intuition of the pair. 

Red XIII studied the black orb. "It's strange to think how so much power can be held here," He mused, gazing into the opaque ball. A dash of scarlet swirled slowly across the surface. It was so dense, so dark that not even his amber eyes were reflected in the surface.

"But it's only dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands," Vincent pointed out. "It takes great power to summon Meteor. Without that power, it is as harmless as a child's toy,"

"Even so, I would hate to see it left unguarded," Red XIII shivered. "I would rather it was destroyed, but to destroy something of this power would be unthinkable. It could cause any kind of imbalance in the Lifestream,"

"You are wise beyond your years," Vincent commented as he stared out of the window. Red XIII was but a child in terms of his species, although he had lived almost as long as the former Turk. He was blessed with a great lifespan, whereas Vincent was effectively immortal thanks to Hojo. The two of them would walk the Planet long after their comrades had passed on to the Lifestream. If the Planet still existed. Red XIII shivered and whisked his fiery tail nervously across the floor.

"Someone has entered the village," Vincent said in a tense, strained voice. 

"It could be anyone," Red XIII said as he bounded up to look.

"I doubt it," Vincent stared down at the person. Dressed entirely in black, they would go unnoticed by all except Vincent. Red XIII stared intently, but the figure seemed to melt into shadows. Vincent's breath caught in a slight gasp.

"Take the materia and rouse the others," Vincent said in a neutral, calm voice.

"It's him?" Red XIII said, frozen in position.

"Just go!" Vincent whispered and pushed the cat like creature towards the materia. Red XIII sprang to life and grasped the Black Materia firmly within his jaws. He clipped it into the armband he wore around one paw and bounded sleekly from the room. Vincent waited until Red XIII had left before pushing open the window and slipping onto the roof as silently as a shadow. He had seen the sudden Mako-green glow of life in the blackness. He would follow the figure.

- - - - - -

Yuffie was lost in pleasant drowsy dreams of Materia and naked Renos, when a sudden pressure awoke her. "Go away..!" she mumbled sleepily.

"Yuffie, wake up! It's important!" 

Yuffie didn't want to wake up into a world on edge, where comrades died and they faced an unimaginable danger. But the pressure was there and she opened her eyes to see Red XIII's paw on her shoulder.

"We could be in great danger!" He hissed. "We need to get out of here, _quickly!_"

Yuffie sprang out of bed instantly, despite being clad in little more than a bra and underwear. "Oops," She blushed and hastily pulled her clothes on. "Wake Tifa and get out of here!" Red XIII said quietly. "I'll get the others. We're going out the back way,"

Yuffie and Tifa moved as quickly and quietly as they dared, following Red XIII. The red creature had roused the others and they stood tense and worried in Cloud's room which was nearest the back. "Out the window!" Red XIII hissed. "Sephiroth is around the front. Vincent will slow him down if he follow," A rush of concern ran through Tifa at the thought of the dark man against the dangerous Sephiroth. She had become strangely attached to the distant, lonely man. But she bit her lip and reminded herself that Vincent could look after himself.

They quietly crept out of the window and down the ivy into the neat garden behind the Inn. The garden faded into a forest at the end and they could make their way through there to the Highwind without being easily detected by Sephiroth. Cloud made his way out first, dropping silently to the ground. The ground dropped steeply behind the inn and it was a long way down. Tifa went next, moving silently with great agility. Kuja didn't bother with the ivy and simply floated earthward in a soft silver haze. The others followed quickly until only Yuffie and Red XIII were left.

"Go on!" he pushed her with one massive red paw. Yuffie trembled. She wasn't particularly fond of heights. She heaved herself up into the open frame reluctantly and looked at him pleadingly. He glared at her and she reached out and caught hold of the rather flimsy ivy. It felt unpleasantly pliable beneath her fingers and she gripped it tightly as she slid out and nudged her feet into holds. Yuffie had barely lowered herself beneath the window when her hand slipped and she panicked, grabbing for the window. Her hand slipped on the smooth wood and she fell towards the stony ground, biting her lip to avoid screaming and giving them away.

The impact she braced herself for never came. Instead a sudden light flickered and she found herself hovering perhaps two inches above the ground. Kuja had his hand raised and an amused smile playing on his lips. As the light slowly faded she landed with a soft, almost inaudible thump. Red XIII twitched his tail awkwardly and wondered how he could climb down without hands. That problem was solved as Kuja repeated the spell and brought him smoothly and easily towards the ground in another silver bubble. "Let's go!" Cloud whispered and they ran silently into the woods.

"What about Vincent?" Tifa whispered as they entered the darkness. Cloud looked sideways.

"He can take care of himself," He replied gently.

'_He knows,'_ Tifa thought and blushed. Knows what? That Tifa was.. rather fond of Vincent in some way? He didn't seem worried anyway. She concentrated her energy on running as they sprinted through the darkness towards the parked Highwind. The woods seemed to be pulsing with life and somehow more _alive_ than they ever were by day. Tiny sounds came from all around and a thousand eyes watched the intruders race through the darkness.

Part of Tifa expected Sephiroth to spring out from the shadows and bring the Masamune slicing through her at any moment. Perhaps he was on the ship, waiting to attack them when they had their backs turned? She pushed away those unpleasant thoughts. If Vincent said he would take care of Sephiroth, he would.

The Highwind sprang to life under Cid's touch and they rose into the air. They looked out over the dark forest to the village and Tifa gasped. A glow of orange lit the sky, a smudge of colour in the darkness. She felt the colour drain from her face.

"He hasn't.. he hasn't torched Kalm? Has he?" She asked Cloud meaninglessly. Cloud shook his head sadly as the flames leapt skyward. "Vincent.. all those townspeople..." She murmured quietly.

"Vincent will get out of there just fine. He always does," Cid said as reassuringly as he could.

"It's our fault that the place is on fire though, isn't it?" Tifa leaned forward and watched as it was consumed by flames. "And it was our fault when we killed all of those people in Midgar.. I can't do anything right," She leaned her head despairingly against the cool metal.

  
"Never think that was your fault," The voice was that of Rufus. He had his back to them as he stared out into darkness. Tifa nodded miserably and reached out for his hand. The former president seemed rather surprised but he didn't pull away as Tifa held on for comfort.


	12. Chapter 12

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Another Time, Another Place

Authors Notes- Contains slash, angst, swearing, violence and character death.

****

Pairings- Sephiroth x Kuja, Cloud x Aeris, Vincent x Tifa, Rufus x Tseng, Reno x Yuffie.

****

Disclaimers- I own none of the characters mentioned hither.

After a night of worrying, Vincent finally showed up to reassure them. They had landed the Highwind on the continent of Wutai, too far for Sephiroth to travel in a night. Vincent simply transformed, flew there and walked in the next day looking quite well. Tifa flew at him and hugged the silent man as soon as he appeared. He looked rather surprised but didn't pull away, patting her shoulder awkwardly with his non-clawed hand.

"I thought you were dead," She mumbled into his shoulder.

"Not at all," He stepped back and she released him, embarassed.

"Did all of Kalm burn down?" She asked hesitantly.

He nodded. "Sephiroth tried to enter the Inn. I managed to hold him off as Chaos for a while, but people started to be alerted to our presence. Sephiroth ran, but not before casting a fire spell. I summoned Leviathan but it was useless.." He turned away and Tifa knew immediately that he would be blaming himself for any lost lives.

"It's not your fault," She reminded him. There was no answer and after a long pause she walked off.

The rest of the day was spent recuperating after Weapon's defeat. After seeing the power of Trance, none of them had any doubts about Kuja's ability to destroy the Guard Spell. All that remained to do then was to find and destroy Sephiroth. Once that was done, the Black Materia needed to be hidden away again and hopefully life would resume as much like normal as possible. Except for Kuja. Tifa wondered what would they do with him? Shinra's machines had been destroyed. She imagined Rufus and the Turks could get hold of the blueprints and rebuild it, but it had proven to be terribly unpredictable. Even if they could locate Kuja's world, he might be thrown into it years into the future. It just wasn't safe. But she couldn't picture the mage settling down and living in their world. He had offered to help them but once that was over, there was nothing here for him.

And what about Rufus? He must be devastated after Tseng's death. She couldn't picture the ex-President living in hiding for the rest of his life. If only there was some way to rebuild Shinra.. the company still had tremendous funds and resources although no-one to claim them. Under Midgar law, as no corpse had been found, seven years had to pass before Rufus could be declared officially dead and the resources be taken over by another. But it couldn't open again as a Mako company. Tifa couldn't allow that and she doubted Rufus would do so after hearing the cries of the Planet. He had been brought back from the Lifestream for a reason.

And herself? Tifa blushed. Although they'd only spent the last few days together after five years of seperation, both she and Vincent knew they had something together. She couldn't go back to live with Cloud and pretend they were happy as friends. She had to follow her heart sometimes and stop doing what was best for others. But Cloud was so frail sometimes. It had taken Tifa to save him from himself when he was lost in the Lifestream. What would happen if she abandoned him now?

Her thoughts were interrupted by Yuffie.

"Whatcha doing?" Yuffie asked, plopping down besides Tifa. They sat on one of the high mountains in the area. The Highwind was landed around the other side, on a level plateau about half way up. Tifa had wandered off and found a peaceful spot overlooking a steep drop. The breeze was cool and pleasant and it was an ideal place to think.

"Just day-dreaming," She answered the young ninja and smiled nonchantly. But Yuffie wasn't the small child she was once. Tifa sighed.

  
"Actually, I was thinking," She answered truthfully.

"About what?" Yuffie pulled out a red materia and polished it idly. "Scared about fighting Sephiroth?"

"A little," She replied and then carried on. "Actually, I was more worried about what would become of us all. Afterwards, you know,"

Yuffie shrugged. "To be honest, I dunno if I want to go back to Wutai and carry on being a good little princess,"

"You like Reno, don't you?" Tifa turned to face the younger girl. Yuffie blushed childishly and nodded.

"And you like Vincent," It was a statement, not a question. "What about Cloud?"

"That's what worries me. Things were never the same between us after Aeris died. He loved her more than he had ever loved me," Tifa smiled wistfully. "We were friends though, and he went almost insane after Sephiroth was defeated. I don't know if it would be fair to leave him in that state again,"

Yuffie looked appalled. "You can't keep doing things for other people, Tifa. If Cloud wants to keep pining over some dead chick then you can't help that. Why make yourself miserable when you have a chance like this?" She leaned forward conspiratally. "And Vincent _is_ pretty damn cute if you like them gothic,"

Tifa smiled. "Thanks Yuffie. I don't know.. I sometimes wonder if things might not have been better if I had died instead of Aeris. I used to spend ages travelling the world to find out if there was some way she could come back in my place. Then Cloud would have been happy and so would she,"

  
"Aeris would never have let you do a thing like that," Yuffie shook her head. "She knew she had to die and she went straight for it! And 'sides, who says she isn't coming back?"

"She's dead. She can't come back. Ever," Tifa pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. 

"Rufus thinks she can," Yuffie smiled brightly. "I was hiding under a table waiting to try and steal some of his materia- those Shinra have the _best_ magic- and then he called Cloud back into the room and they talked," She shrugged. "I couldn't help overhearing,"

"What did they say?" Tifa asked, interested. 

"Rufus has been hearing voices since he died and came back. Or nearly died. Whatever happened when Weapon hit his office anyway. And he says Aeris used to talk to him and she was the only voice that wasn't judging him 'cause of what Shinra did. And she told him to tell Cloud that they would meet again!"

"Oh Yuffie," Tifa sighed. "She probably meant in the afterlife,"

Yuffie shook her head vigorously and her dark hair whipped in the wind. "Not what Rufus thought. He said she sounded like she was comin' back one day. After Sephiroth had been killed and it was all over, of course,"

"Wow.." Tifa breathed. "If she came back, it would be perfect. Cloud would be happy. He'd have someone to look after him,"

"And you and Vincent could run off and go at it like bunnies!" Yuffie burst out laughing at the thought of the stately Vincent ever acting that way. Tifa couldn't help laughing as well. There was something comical about the way she had phrased it.

"Let's head back," Tifa suggested. "There's a lot to get ready if we're going into the Crater tomorrow," Yuffie nodded and bounded up. They ran back to the Highwind, suddenly optimistic about the battle that lay ahead.

- - - - - - - - -

Back at the Highwind they were greeted by a limping Dark Nation who had apparantly recovered from the attack. Tifa thoughtfully patted the great black monster, remembering the days when it had fought her alongside Rufus. It seemed positively cuddly now it had accepted her as being no threat.

"Everyone ready?" Cloud asked as they gathered upon the deck. There were nods of assent. "Good," He said, turning his back upon them. "I was thinking about this again earlier," He continued thoughtfully. "And whatever happens, even if Sephiroth is too strong for us.. well, it doesn't matter any more. Even if some of us die, we have friends waiting for us in the Lifestream. But I'd really like to save the Planet again. I don't want the lives to be lost in vain. I don't want Sephiroth to find the Black Materia again. We have to finish this now," He looked around the group thoughtfully. "This time, there is no Aeris to stop Meteor. We have to stop it from coming in the first place. And that's why we're going to end things with Sephiroth now. We're taking the materia with us- if he searches, he'll find us and we might as well stay together and defend it as best as we can. I know how Sephiroth affects me sometimes-" He shuddered here and Kuja noticed with great interest how another, weaker aura traced around Cloud's when he thought about it. Manipulation?

"-And so that's why I'm leaving the Black Materia in Red XIII's care," He handed it back to the feline creature. "I trust you to keep care of it,"

Red XIII bowed his head. "I'll try my best," He answered softly.

"Good," Cloud nodded. "We'll set off tomorrow then!"


	13. Chapter 13

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Another Time, Another Place

Authors Notes- Contains slash, angst, swearing, violence and character death.

****

Pairings- Sephiroth x Kuja, Cloud x Aeris, Vincent x Tifa, Rufus x Tseng, Reno x Yuffie.

****

Disclaimers- I own none of the characters mentioned hither.

Sephiroth didn't appear throughout the night. The Black Materia was heavily guarded anyway, but there was no sign of him. '_Why should he bother?'_ Kuja wondered _'We're bringing it to him anyway,'_ But he agreed there was no better way of looking after it. And with thirteen- no, just twelve guards now- to look after it, he didn't think they needed to worry too much. Kuja was greatly interested in meeting Sephiroth now. An equal, in battle? He no longer cared if he would live or die. It would be enough to find someone of equal strength to him. He had anticipated his own death a long time ago and there was nothing to really hold him to the world.

The journey didn't take too long. They stood in silence, pre-occupied and worried. Yuffie was too worried to be sick again. Red XIII's tail swished ceaselessly from side to side, almost igniting Cid's clothes once. After a great deal of swearing they resumed to absolute silence.

"It should take a couple of days to descend into the Crater," Cloud said, breaking the silence. "So check you have enough Materia and restorative potions to last for a while," No comment, just worried looks all round. Except from Kuja. Oddly enough, the former Shinra experiment looked positively _jaunty_ at the prospect of fighting the great Sephiroth. Perhaps he just didn't know how dangerous the silver-haired man could be. After all, the rest of them were terribly aware. It had been Sephiroth who had terribly injured Tseng before the other Turk's eyes, Sephiroth who had killed President Shinra and floors full of employees before Rufus, Sephiroth who had killed Aeris as they had watched. He had burnt down Nibelheim, controlled Cloud and slashed both he and Tifa. They all knew just how dangerous he was.

"Approaching Northern Continent," Cid said tensely. Snow began to whirl against the glass windows, obscuring the view and Cid switched to radar to view the world. Even inside the ship, the temperature seemed to plummet a few degrees. Or maybe it was just fear that made them shiver as they approached the cursed place.

"There it is," Cloud pointed as the Crater was revealed. An enormous purple shell of magic enclosed the wound in the Planet's surface, sealing it away from the outside world. The surface shimmered with unknown powers. "Can you get through it?" He asked Kuja abruptly. The silver-haired mage walked gracefully over to the window and nodded.

The sight of the crater brought back less than pleasant memories for Rufus. His last few moments replayed horribly in his mind. The Sister Ray being charged up, impossible amounts of power sucked directly from the veins of the Planet. And that moment of triumph when the sheer power of Mako blasted clean through Weapon and obliviated the Guard Spell. That was pleasant enough, but only a few seconds afterwards he had heard a warning on his intercom. A panicking voice. '_Mr President, evacuate your office! Weapon has attacked!'_. Why didn't he move as the warnings were repeated, each time more strained than the last? A short run would have taken him to the stairs and safety. Instead he had crossed slowly to the glass windows and watched as the missiles approached. They had been so pretty, sparkling with a clear brilliant light. It took a Weapon to kill President Shinra! He had watched as they approached, awareness of his own mortality shining in his watching blue gaze. And then when they finally struck, there was a second's memory of windows imploding and an enormous fireball consuming his office and the entire top floor before everything was obliviated and he woke up days late, almost completely unharmed. Except for the terribly accusing voices of the Lifestream that coursed through his mind.

He suddenly snapped back to the real world and realised they were landing. Cid had broken his rule about landing only on a smooth grassy area and brought the Highwind down just outside the crater in an uneven patch of snow and rocks. He winced as the ship tilted slightly upon landing and rocks ground hard against the underside of his pride and joy. There was a tense moment and then Cloud nodded. "Let's get going," He said and they followed him outside.

It was bitterly cold here, as they stared upwards at the rocky edge of the Crater. Up close, the spell was more frightening than ever. Tiny crimson flames shot through the surface, bouncing away from each other like fish in a stream. A soft aura of menace radiated from it. Kuja began to wonder if he might actually be unable to cut through it.

"Are you ready?" Tifa asked softly. Kuja shook his head suddenly.

"I need to trance.." He said slowly, remembering the destruction of Terra when crimson waves had shot from his hands and brought down great stone towers and cut through mountains with terrible ease. "Perhaps you'd all better get out the way," There were nods of assent and the rest of the crew headed back into the Highwind. Kuja slowly approached the Crater on his own.

With a slight glow he rose smoothly into the sky until he was perhaps 30ft up and able to see it clearly. It looked frighteningly strong, but then so had Terra and he had destroyed that without too much difficulty. What spell to use? Kuja considered carefully before raising one hand and sending an experimental blast of energy racing towards the Crater.

There was a ping as the area of impact darkened and then flushed scarlet at the assault. Kuja blinked, momentarily blinded. A half-second later he hit the ground hard as his attack simply bounced back and struck him with redoubled force.

"Ow..." He complained, lifting himself up on one elbow. It had been a long fall even without the impact. He had been hurt quite badly and he winced as he examined himself for injuries. Injured badly, but was it badly enough for Trance? He was answered by the rising red light and a familiar feeling of rage as he began to change and rose back into the air. 

The light flushed and rose in intensity as he surveyed the Crater. His floating figure looked terribly small against the great purple dome but that no longer mattered. Now he could feel the rush of Trance sweeping through him.. the power that could destroy a world. Kuja struggled to focus it as it coursed through him, concentrating in a thin beam of energy.

"Ultima,"

The sky darkened as the familiar purple spears broke through the cloud coverage. He struggled to focus, to concentrate the power upon the dome alone. The temptation to send jagged waves of power pulsing out at random, destroying all he could see.. it was irresistable. But with a great effort he focused on the dome and _pushed_ them towards it. A great roaring filled the air as the two forces collided. A white hot pain rose behind his eyes and he ignored it, driving the spell onward and feeling it beginning to burn through the defences slowly and surely. It threatened to waver and break away, splintering into a thousand deadly points of light and destroying all else in the area- but he couldn't let that happen. The pain rose until it was almost unbearable.. and Kuja was almost unconscious when he finally heard a strange shrieking sound as Ultima tore through Sephiroth's barrier and the whole Guard spell simply faded away.

He came down to earth slowly and almost without realising it, falling the last ten feet or so as his drained mind gave in. Kuja wasn't conscious when Tifa rushed out to his side followed by the rest of the crew.

- - - - - - - - 

"D'you reckon he'll be alright?" Barret asked, surveying the silent mage.

"He's pushed himself too far," Rufus said with a faintly faraway voice. "Give him time,"

"Did Aeris tell you that?" Cloud asked. Rufus suddenly seemed to snap back into reality.

"Yes," He said simply. "She's here now. She promises to stay if we need her advice,"

There was a sudden relieved feeling rushing through the group. Even if they couldn't see her, knowing that Aeris was waiting and talking to them was a tremendous comfort. Tifa smiled. "I think he's waking up," She said, noticing Kuja stir slightly.

"You ok?" Cloud asked. 

"I think so.." Kuja said, rising slowly. "That spell.. never seen anything that strong,"

"Well, you got through it," Rufus said. "It took six Mako reactors worth of energy to cut through it last time,"

"Shall we continue?" Vincent asked. "The spell may reform after a while,"

"I suppose," Cloud lifted his ultimate weapon and stood. "Into the Crater we go then.."


	14. Chapter 14

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Another Time, Another Place

Authors Notes- Contains slash, angst, swearing, violence and character death.

****

Pairings- Sephiroth x Kuja, Cloud x Aeris, Vincent x Tifa, Rufus x Tseng, Reno x Yuffie.

****

Disclaimers- I own none of the characters mentioned hither.

It took almost an hour to climb the outside wall. It wasn't particularly hard to climb, but the walls were rather high and the wind cut into them and threatened to sweep them from the sides. It was hardest for Red XIII who struggled onward, leaping up the steep sides in great bounds and digging his claws deep into the rock to hold on. Thankfully it wasn't vertical. Once, Yuffie lost her balance and plummeted twenty feet or so with a screech before a quick Stop spell from Cloud held her suspended and screaming in the air. When they finally reached the top there was a moment of silence as they took in the great wound in the Planet's surface. Somewhere, down there, Sephiroth was growing in strength and preparing to summon Meteor. He would soon be at full strength and Cloud knew they needed to watch their backs whilst they carried the Black Materia.

The descent was somewhat easier. It was rocky, but less steep and warmer without the bitter wind to cut through them. Even so, it seemed a terribly long way to go and as night began to fall they were still barely half way down.

"I suppose we should stop and rest for the night," Cloud said reluctantly. "We aren't going to get much further tonight,"

Tifa shook her head and wearily pushed her hair from her eyes. Her long dark ponytail had come loose and strands hung messily over her face. "There's a cave a little further down," she remembered from the last descent. "I suppose we could stay there for the night,"

The cave was barely a scooped out hole in the side of a jagged cliff, but it was perfectly adequate for the night. Even with the shelter from snow, it was still bitterly cold.

"Would a fire be too much to ask for?" Yuffie complained bitterly. 

  
"Not at all, if you don't mind spelling out our exact location to Sephiroth," Reno replied sharply. Yuffie looked hurt.

"He already knows we're in the Crater," She huffed as she went and sat down against the back of the cave. 

"No need to make it any easier for him," Cloud replied absently as he lifted his weapon and sat down at the cave entrance. "I'll keep an eye out for him,"

Uneasy silence fell. The sun was setting, a faint blood red lighting the sky even through the clouds and snow. One last night before they found Sephiroth again. Tifa shivered and sat down besides Vincent. They sat in companionable silence and he didn't seem to object when she rested her head against his shoulder. Yuffie winked rather obviously at Tifa and scooted closer to Reno. He didn't seem to object either. It was still perhaps an hour before they began to drift off to sleep. Tifa woke once, when Vincent gently pulled himself free to relieve Red XIII of guarding the entrance at midnight. She didn't feel remotely tired and joined him despite protests. It was strangely beautiful looking out over the valley, even if it had been caused by a devastating power from the skies. The sky had cleared and sparkled with a million points of light. The valley itself was a sharp contrast of white on black, shadows and snow. It was almost silent and they sat peacefully watching over it. This time, Vincent reached out to Tifa first and she lay in his arms quietly. If tomorrow brought death, she didn't think she would care anymore. At least tonight would be happy. The only thing she couldn't bear thinking about was if she died and Vincent blamed himself. The thought of him shut up in a coffin atoning for all time was unbearable. Perhaps he would simply turn the Death Penalty on himself. Tifa shuddered and pushed the morbid thoughts from her mind. Best to not spoil tonight. Rufus took over an hour or so later and she noticed the slight raise of his eyebrow. He didn't say anything though, as Tifa and Vincent rose and returned to the cave quietly.

They were not to spend the night interrupted. Shortly before dawn, Kuja was on guard when he felt the first tremors pulsing through the valley. He stood and stepped outside. Nothing, but a faint rumbling that seemed terribly far away. "Cloud?" He stepped back inside and shook the blonde man. "Something's happening-" He had barely finished when there was a sudden crack and the solid ground they stood on suddenly quivered. 

"What's going on?" Cloud sprang upright instantly and reached for his sword. His Mako-enhanced senses could make out the faintly ominous sounds- a bubbling of liquid. The ground suddenly felt very unstable. "Go take a look, I'll wake the others," He ordered Kuja. The mage ran outside. He was barely ten feet away from the cave entrance when the ground suddenly opened up below him and he plunged into a world of pulsing green light. 

"£%$^!" Cid sprang awake as there was a grinding sound and the solid cave floor suddenly tilted horribly forward at an angle of perhaps 45 degrees. Loose rocks fell from the ceiling and bounced out the entrance as the others sprang awake and held onto the uneven walls. He caught a faint green glow coming from outside and with a quick jab, drove his javelin into the cave floor to avoid sliding out. Yuffie screamed as she slid horribly sideways, unable to grab anything. "The Lifestream!" Red XIII gasped as he saw the gash that had opened outside the cave. With lightning speed, he lunged after Yuffie and bit deep into her shoulder, his claws scrabbling helplessly on the stone floor as he tried to stop them both from falling out. They had almost reached the edge when he felt a sudden pain and a jerk as his claws caught in a deep crack and they stopped, almost on the brink of falling into the green flow. There was a soft clink as they stopped suddenly and his amber eyes widened as he saw a tiny black ball bounce free of his armlet and roll slowly downward, disappearing into the great gash. Yuffie screamed again as Red XIII's teeth cut through her soft flesh, her weight suspended from his grip. Then she managed to brace herself against the rough ground and relieve some of the weight until Barret reached over and pulled them both to safety. He had just pulled the pair of them back into the cave when the ground suddenly tilted again and there was an ominous crack. Seconds later the whole floor seemed to collapse and there was a sudden crash as tons of rocks fell from the cave entrance and ceiling and landed where Yuffie and Red XIII had been a second later. There was absolute darkness as the green glow disappeared along with all light from the outside world and a rain of small rocks and dust fell from above, pelting them and burying them under a layer of stone. They were trapped!

- - - - - - - -

Kuja floated in the strange pulsing liquid without much fear. He saw faces appear, some friendly and some neutral. All of them seemed curious as they floated over to him and then rushed away. There seemed to be no need to breathe down here and he felt a kind of wonder rather than fear. The knowledge of the Ancients coursed through this, the blood of the Planet. He would go wherever it took him. Strange memories of other lives, other people whose souls ran through here, drifted into his mind. Other memories, combining with his own. Was he Kuja, really? Had he ever been anything but part of this flow of souls? He was overcome by the rush of images and lay quietly as his identity seemed to slip away and he became part of the Lifestream.

Or so he had thought. After some time (it could have been days or just a few hours) had passed, he began to be aware of other feelings breaking through the blissful tranquility. Coldness. Pain returning to his lungs as cool air touched him again and he breathed deeply to relieve it. He began to be aware that he was back in his physical form as sensations came slowly. A touch of fingers against his throat, testing for a pulse. They seemed far away as though he was numbed by some powerful anaesthetic. Now he thought about it, he could feel his pulse himself, slow but sure. Alive? He wasn't in the Lifestream any more. He wanted to see where he was but he couldn't seem to control himself any more. It felt like it had been so long ago, and now although he was back in his body it felt like a machine he had forgotten to work. So complicated, after floating in the Lifestream. He frowned intently and with a great effort, snapped back into himself. His eyes opened as naturally as they had ever done.

"Careful. You've been out for a long time," a voice came. He didn't recognise it and he blinked. Sight came back through the dark fuzz that covered his eyes and he found himself looking at a tall figure. Silver hair fell into the most intense green eyes he had ever seen. Green as the Lifestream itself, and as wondrous and full of knowledge. There was no need to ask who it was that had pulled him from the Lifestream, but he asked anyway.

"....Sephiroth?"


	15. Chapter 15

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Another Time, Another Place

Authors Notes- Contains slash, angst, swearing, violence and character death.

****

Pairings- Sephiroth x Kuja, Cloud x Aeris, Vincent x Tifa, Rufus x Tseng, Reno x Yuffie.

****

Disclaimers- I own none of the characters mentioned hither.

"Yuck!" Yuffie was the first to speak after the cave collapsed. She spat out a mouthful of dust that clogged up her throat. "What happened?"

"Looks like what happened back in Mideel," Tifa replied. She felt concerned hands clear the rocks that held her trapped up to her waist and pull her free. Vincent. In the absolute darkness, his eyes gave off the faintest red light. It was somehow comforting. "Is everyone ok?" She asked, concerned.

"Fine over here," A voice that could only be Rufus replied. She heard scuffling and a concerned voice. "Elena?"

"Is she alright?" Rude's voice came from the same direction.

"Just unconscious.. I think," Rufus said, unsure. There was another scuffling of rocks being cleared and Elena's voice came weakly.

"I'm fine,"

"What about everyone else?" Cloud pulled away the rocks that held him trapped and winced as blood mingled with the dust that covered him. "Red?"

"I think I'm okay," The voice was unsure. "I seem to be trapped but that's not the worst part. Cloud, I lost the Black Materia!" His voice was soft with misery.

"Is it under all this rock?" Tifa turned to Red XIII who seemed to be nearby though she couldn't see him.

"No, it fell into the Lifestream when I saved Yuffie," He replied sadly. "I'm sorry.."

"There was nothing you could do," Tifa impulsively reached out and hugged him, blundering in the darkness. "If it's in the Lifestream, maybe Aeris can keep it away from Sephiroth!"

"Unless Sephiroth caused the accident," Red XIII's head drooped sadly. 

"HEY!" Yuffie screeched suddenly.

"What the #!&^ is going on over there?" Cid's voice came. There was a slapping sound and Reno complained noisily.

"I was just checking she was okay!" He argued. "It's not my fault I can't see what I'm grabbing in the darkness,"

"Pervert," Yuffie sounded rather pleased.

"Is it my imagination or is it gettin' hotter in here?" Barret asked. "I reckon y'all should stop arguin' and concentrate on getting out of here. Feels like we're running clear out of oxygen!"

"But there's tons and tons of rock!" Elena cried, sounding rather distressed. "And if we used magic, we could blow the whole cliff up and bring it all down on top of us!"

Cloud climbed over to where he estimated the entrance had been. The floor was littered with dust and heavy rocks and he winced as he put his hand on a jagged piece of flint. He reached out blindly and began to pull at one of the boulders. It barely moved. "They're too heavy," He said quietly. "It would take years to move this lot without some heavy machinery,"

"Move out of the way," Vincent moved from Tifa's arms and examined the entrance. There was a familiar red glow and for a moment the cave was lit, as with firelight. Tifa took in the faces of everyone- alive, but battered and scratched. Blood trickled through layers of dust. Then as the light faded she saw the familar form of Chaos appear.

"Get back," Chaos warned, the voice barely human. They scrambled backwards to sit against the wall as the demon went to work on the wall of rocks. There was a crashing as long claws locked into the stone and ripped them free as though they weighed nothing. The red eyes, the only part of Vincent that didn't change, flashed blood-red as he tore into the wall with ease. Dust choked the rest of the party as they all secretly wondered if the actions would bring down the whole cave. Stones bounced and fell free, rattling against the floor as the wall was steadily demolished. The temperature soared hotter and hotter as the oxygen levels were depleted. Tifa's lungs burned as she sucked in the dusty, dry air. She began to feel rather sleepy and light-headed and she lay drowsily against the wall. Getting out seemed less important suddenly.

At last a tiny chink of light appeared. Chaos tore at it until it was big enough to admit a shaft of early morning sunlight. The air felt wonderfully cool and clear. With vicious strength the demon ripped away at the rocks, widening the passage until it could admit a person.

"Is it ready?" Cloud stood weakily and walked over to the light, stumbling over loose rocks. The air felt fresh and revitalising. Vincent transformed back and nodded. "Alright, everyone out!" Cloud ordered. Barret frowned, although no-one could really see in the weak light.

"Ya sure that tiny little passage is gonna let me through?" He asked, eyeing the narrow way. Vincent shrugged. 

"If it doesn't, I'll enlarge it," He replied simply and went to collect Tifa, only to find her limp and unconscious. 

"Hey, Rufus is out cold!" Elena's voice sounded panicked again.

"So is Tifa," Vincent lifted the dark haired girl gently. "We need to get them outside as quickly as possible,"

Cloud went first, scrambling into the narrow gap and crawling through into the blissfully cool air. He jumped down on the other side. The gap where the Lifestream had bubbled up through was hidden under layers of rock. He reached through to help Tifa as Vincent passed the unconscious girl through, and lay her gently on a patch of grass amongst the snow. Next came Cid, poking his javelin through first and swearing loudly all the way. The Turks brought Rufus out next. Elena looked worried as she usually did. At last they had all squeezed out (including Barret) except..

"Where's Kuja?"

- - - - - - - - - 

Kuja meanwhile was taking in his surroundings. He was apparantly underground in a stone chamber somewhere. A small lake of green showed where he had been pulled out. He wondered whether the rest had managed to escape and hoped feverently that they had. Not to rescue him though- he felt strangely at home with Sephiroth.

"This is the Black Materia," Sephiroth said idly, holding a glowing black orb. Kuja sat up and wondered what where the chances of him regaining it. "Relax," Sephiroth looked at the mage strangely. "It's too late now anyway. Meteor has been summoned,"


	16. Chapter 16

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Another Time, Another Place

Authors Notes- An almost novel-length Final Fantasy crossover bringing Kuja to the world of FF7 as another threat appears. Features slash and several pairings, along with the return of some characters I was too sentimental to kill off. Feedback would be greatly appreciated as I spent a long time working on this- it ran to over 50 pages of tiny font in the end. I apologise for any details which may be wrong within this fic. I haven't played either game recently.

****

Pairings- Sephiroth x Kuja, Cloud x Aeris, Vincent x Tifa, Rufus x Tseng, Reno x Yuffie.

****

Disclaimers- I own none of the characters mentioned hither.

As they lay recovering on the side of the crater, it was Cloud who first looked up and saw the sky was an ominous red. There was a sickening sensation as he squinted- and saw the familiar fiery ball of Meteor darkening the skies once again. His heart fell, and seemed to shatter into a thousand pieces on the snowy ground. They had come too late now..

"What's wrong?" Tifa asked, sitting up and brushing the dust from her clothes. "I'm sure Kuja will be okay. He can take care of himself-"

"It's not that," Cloud replied in a faint, lost voice. He pointed upward. "Meteor has been summoned,"

"....So it's over," Vincent turned away from the group. "There's no way we can stop it now. The White Materia is lost,"

"Nothing.." Tifa echoed his words. "No way to call Holy. No Shinra to stop Meteor. This is the end,"

"Not quite," Cloud sighed, standing up and checking his Materia. "We can still kill Sephiroth. Even if the Planet will die, we can stop him using it for his own purposes,"

Red XIII trembled. "It's my fault, isn't it?" He asked timidly.

"Of course not," Cid knelt besides the young creature with surprising gentleness. "It's all that goddamn Sephiroth's fault. You just did your best to help yer friend,"

"Is it worth continuing?" Rufus stared up at the reddening sky. "Meteor is nearly upon us. Whatever the Planet brought me back for, I have failed,"

The group sat in absolute silence as the tiny ball of destruction hurtled towards Earth with fearsome speed.

- - - - - - - - -

  
"The end.." Kuja echoed Sephiroth's words. "I've faced my own death before. I don't suppose any of it really matters any more,"

"Never mind," Sephiroth said in a flat, neutral tone "There's nothing to do now but wait. You will die instantly and join the Lifestream, becoming a part of me," He explained his plan slowly, green eyes glowing intensely. "I will become a God once Meteor strikes. All the power of the Lifestream concentrated here- nothing to do now but wait,"

"I used to be like you," Kuja said quietly. "That's why dying doesn't scare me any more. I'm probably worse than you anyway. I destroyed a whole planet simply to prove I was the best- and not a failure I was told I was,"

Sephiroth looked up oddly. "You're.. like me?" In his years of wandering the Planet, killing for Shinra and finding his own identity, he had never found another soul who had thought the same way.

"Yes," Kuja replied, his eyes far away. "I killed more than you. I created whole armies of people to use and destroy. I destroyed towns, cities, anything to prove myself to my maker. And then I killed him eventually," He shrugged his narrow shoulders. Sephiroth regarded him intently.

"Tell me more?" He asked. Kuja nodded and began his tale. It took much of the night to share, but somehow he had connected with the tall, feared man. They were more alike than they had realised. But like Kuja, if Sephiroth learned what it was to live, it was too late now. After they had finished talking there was silence. Green light from the lake danced across both faces as they sat, lost in memory. Kuja brushed his hair back, troubled by thoughts of all those he had toyed with. After a long silence, staring into the mage's quiet, eerily perfect face, Sephiroth leaned forward and kissed him. It seemed as natural and as simple as that. The night passed slowly as green light flickered across both of them and they learned what it was to love for the first time.


	17. Chapter 17

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Another Time, Another Place

Authors Notes- Contains slash, angst, swearing, violence and character death.

****

Pairings- Sephiroth x Kuja, Cloud x Aeris, Vincent x Tifa, Rufus x Tseng, Reno x Yuffie.

****

Disclaimers- I own none of the characters mentioned hither.

When they woke, there was absolute silence. Kuja thought he could hear the soft rushing of Meteor as it headed earthward. But perhaps it was just his imagination. He stood, dressed and knelt by the Lifestream for a long time. Sephiroth was still asleep. He stared into the icy green depths and wondered what it would be like to combine with Sephiroth after death. A coupling beyond any they could reach in the physical world. He wasn't deluding himself though. Whatever his personal feelings, the thought of the entire world being simply eliminated troubled him now. He reached down to the Lifestream and considered simply jumping in now. No. He wanted to make the most of the time he and Sephiroth had remaining. He touched the surface, felt it shimmer under his fingers. Why did they have to meet under these circumstances when it was too late? Sephiroth was as misled and as troubled as Kuja himself had been. A tear fell and ripples spread across the glassy surface. His reflection stared back- but it wasn't his any more. He leaned forward and saw a pale, pretty face. Wide, clear green eyes stared back into his own as she smiled and touched a finger to her lips. A soft whisper came from the angel as she spoke to him.

"Summon... Holy..."

Holy? A sudden electric feeling jolted through Kuja. Holy, the magic he had cast without a thought, without materia. Was that _all_ that was needed to stop Meteor and Sephiroth? Aeris nodded and with a last sweet smile began to fade. Holy... in his world, it had been a spell that could be cast by anyone with great experience. Precious few ever learnt to call upon that divine force. But here, with the Cetra and the Lifestream, it could change the future of the world. Perhaps it would be harder. He touched the Lifestream again and felt the knowledge seep into his mind. Holy. If he could summon the magic and the Planet would bind itself to him, it would bring forth the Lifestream and eradicate all that endangered the future. He stood and placed a soft kiss upon the sleeping Sephiroth's forehead. _'I'm so sorry'_ he told the man silently and headed out of the stone chamber.

Kuja walked a long way until he emerged from underground and found a grassy hill rising from the Crater, a haven in the rocky wound. He walked slowly upward, hoping it wouldn't be too late. The entire sky was flushed red now and Meteor was an angry eye glaring from above. He knelt at the top of the hill and using every trace of his power, began to pray for Holy to be summoned.

- - - - - - - - -

Cloud and the rest continued the descent slowly. Meteor was low and a furious blood-red. Too late for the Planet now. All they could do was kill Sephiroth and hope that would compensate slightly. Thoughts of those lost- Aeris, Tseng and now Kuja- touched their minds. Their sacrifice had been in vain. The Planet would not be saved. Aeris would never return after all she had given. Tears threatened Tifa's ruby eyes as the soft roar of Meteor rushing onward began to rise.

"Hey!" Yuffie suddenly yelled. Her voice seemed shrill and inappropriate. "Isn't that Kuja?!" She pointed into the distance and they saw a tiny, kneeling figure atop a grassy hill, hands together and head bowed in a familiar pose.

"He's praying.." Tifa whispered. "But he doesn't have the Materia,"

"Maybe he doesn't need it. Maybe he can reach the Planet without it," Vincent replied, placing an arm around her shoulders. They stopped and stared, feeling for the first time... hope.

- - - - - - - - -

  
Kuja's eyes closed as he felt the Lifestream respond slowly. _'Please, please help,'_ He prayed, as the rush of the approaching Meteor grew louder. This was harder than destroying Terra, harder than destroying the Guard Spell. Holy in his own world had never been so hard- a divine force that could be used to attack enemies. But now he had to call the souls of those who dwelled in the Lifestream to wipe out the dangers. Could they even hear him? White hot pain lanced through his head as he felt the slowest response stir somewhere. _'Aeris, please help me!'_ He thought desperately. His head felt like it might explode- he had poured every last bit of strength into it and he had nothing more to give. It was tearing him apart and nothing was happening.. then suddenly the pain rode to an agonising peak and just as he though he could stand no more, it subsided to a dull ache. He opened his eyes and there was a soft glow swallowing his praying figure. A green light playing around him, sparkling with hope. The Planet had responded.

"You've summoned Holy," A voice said simply, breaking the silence. It sounded as cold and as brittle as the shattering of a thousand dreams. Sephiroth walked in front of the kneeling Kuja. "I suppose this it it,"

Kuja nodded as he saw the red Meteor light catch on the length of steel that hung loosely in Sephiroth's grip. He had expected this, and no longer feared it. 

"Are you going to fight?" Sephiroth asked warily.

Kuja shook his head, tired. It didn't matter now. Holy was coming to remove Meteor and Sephiroth himself, to cleanse the Planet of the threat. There was no reason for him to stay tied to this world. Sephiroth knelt before him and suddenly he felt himself crushed into a kiss. Sephiroth was almost vicious as he clung to the mage possessively, holding him as he said a silent farewell.

"I'm sorry," He stood and lifted the gigantic blade. It flashed blood red, then silver as the different lights caught on it. It was a strangely beautiful weapon to die by. "I guess we met too late,"

"Another time, another place," Kuja agreed. No fear at the sight of the deadly blade. He just felt terribly tired and longed for rest. "Did you finally learn what it means to live?" He asked, smiling faintly. Sephiroth looked away.

"...Yes,"

"But it's too late now," Kuja sighed. "It's okay. I knew that you'd have to do this.... I'll be waiting on the other side for you," He looked up into Sephiroth's green gaze, the only person who had really know what it was like to want to be a God, and to have all their dreams dashed. Their eyes met and remained fixed, locked together, even as the Masamune came down, whistling as it split the clear, cold air. Kuja didn't look away as he felt the steel cut clear through him and find the air again as it exited through his back. No pain yet. A rush of adrenaline, but it was too late for that now. Then the gaze began to falter as a black mist gathered around the edges of his vision. Kuja knew his blood would be running down freely, spilling into the ground and returning to the Planet. But he couldn't feel it, couldn't feel anything any more. As he began to fall forward, Sephiroth caught him in his arms and held him possessively. With the last kiss, his mouth tasted sweetly of iron as blood welled up in his throat. Sephiroth kissed him as he promised they would meet again, kissed him as he drove the length of steel further into the dying mage.

"Another time, another place.." were the last whispered words heard by Kuja Garland before his eyes closed and he left this world to wait for Sephiroth in the afterlife.

- - - - - - - - - -

  
"No!" Tifa cried as she saw the figure of Sephiroth appear. She would have ran, but they were too far away for help now. They watched in silence as the two spoke, as Sephiroth stood and brought the blade down. Like watching Aeris die all over again, she watched helplessly as Kuja's praying hands fell apart and he fell forward into Sephiroth's waiting arms. Their last hope, gone? Meteor whistled threateningly above. The sky was all but obliviated by the giant fiery ball.


	18. Chapter 18

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Another Time, Another Place

Authors Notes- Contains slash, angst, swearing, violence and character death.

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Pairings- Sephiroth x Kuja, Cloud x Aeris, Vincent x Tifa, Rufus x Tseng, Reno x Yuffie.

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Disclaimers- I own none of the characters mentioned hither.

Sephiroth lay Kuja gently on the grass and placed the sword besides him. He wouldn't need it again. Already he could hear the stirrings of the Planet as it prepared itself to rally against Meteor and Sephiroth. Perhaps this was for the best. The one person he'd thought he could love and he had to kill him. Long silver hair blew behind him in the wind as he stared upward and waited for the end. None of it really seemed to matter any more. The sky darkening slowly, as it headed towards him. He could see the individual craters in the surface now. It was all but blinding. Would Holy really come in time?

He was answered by a faintly musical sound, like a stream running down a mountain. He glanced down to see the ground being pushed aside by the force below. Tiny pricks of light showed, like stars. Then they grew in strength and pure green light erupted upward in bright columns, forming a wall of holy magical powers. The wall reached upward to Meteor, sweeping forward to encompass Sephiroth. He stood steadily and calm as the Lifestream came towards him. It was as clear and as beautiful as the light of dawn. For that's what was happening- not just an ending, but a dawning of a new life too. '_Another time, another place'_ he murmured to himself as the green glow simply swallowed his waiting figure and took him to another world where Kuja awaited him.

- - - - - - - - - - -

"Look!" Yuffie cried. They watched, awed as the sudden rush of sparkling light swept upward. Sephiroth stood calmly before and was simply engulfed by it as it reached up. They fell back blinded by the pure holy light as it swept upward like the fingers of the Planet, reaching out and covering Meteor like an avenging hand. A high, musical note trembled as the fiery missile was swallowed up with green pure light and they collapsed, the ground trembling as the power of Holy rushed upward to destroy the invader and save the Planet.

- - - - - - - - - - -

When they woke up, there was no sign of Meteor. The sky was a calm and clear blue, undisturbed by any danger. It was as ever nothing had ever threatened the Planet's life. They walked to the place where Kuja had died and found the hill had simply disappeared. A wide pool of glowing Lifestream was the only trace of what had taken place.

"It's so beautiful.." Yuffie murmured, staring into the clear depths. "I guess that's the end for Sephiroth, huh?"

"He won't come back," Vincent said, joining her. "Even if he could, I think there's someone to hold him to the afterlife,"

"You mean-" Yuffie looked up at Vincent and wondered what he saw in the Lifestream that she couldn't. Vincent said nothing and Yuffie was left to wonder. But then Reno came up behind her and put an arm round her shoulder and she forgot all about Vincent's enigmatic words.

Cloud was alone from the group, kneeling at the other side of the lake. Tifa pulled away from Vincent's possessive grip. She knew what he waited for and she prayed that it would happen too. She walked over and knelt beside him.

"Cloud?" 

He looked up and tears were in his glowing eyes. "She isn't coming back, is she?"

Tifa didn't know what to say. "If Aeris made a promise, then Aeris will fulfil it," She said firmly. If there _was_ a way of coming back, she knew the Cetra would return. Rufus looked equally worried and for a moment she worried about the two. She couldn't rule out suicide, by the way two identical blue-eyed gazes stared into the depths of the Planet. The temptation to jump in and join their lovers in the afterlife.. it must be overwhelming. Then just as she was beginning to suggest they should leave the silent lake, there was a sudden glow as a beam of sunlight raced down from the clouds, flooding the pool with light.

Yuffie gave a startled shout as a face began to form in the green pool. Aeris, smiling, her finger on her lips as the pool flushed with light. It grew in intensity until she _had_ to look away from the blinding whiteness.. and then as it faded, two figures appeared, walking slowly through the lake, side by side.

"AERIS!" Cloud exploded and almost jumped in to meet the Cetra. She walked towards him, her pink dress swirling around her in the green lake. The sun sparkled around her, making her seem more of an angel than ever before, with her pure eyes full of love for Cloud. A slight breeze blew wisps of her chestnut hair behind her as she walked through the glowing lake. His arms reached out as she approached the edge and he pulled her into a deep embrace, his hands wrapped around her slender waist. There was a sweet scent of flowers clinging to her hair as he buried his face in it and for the first time in five years, he felt whole again, like he had found himself. Tears ran unashamed as he clung to his angel.

Meanwhile Tseng (looking less angelic but quite magnificent to Rufus anyway) bounded out of the lake and was immediately pounced upon by Elena, Rude, Reno and Rufus who was alternating between scolding him for doing something so stupid and crying with relief. 

Tifa watched the reunion between Cloud and Aeris and reached to hold Vincent's hand.

"No regrets?" He asked her quizzically. She shook her head thoughtfully.

"I'm glad she's back," She answered truthfully as Vincent pulled her into an embrace. The Cetra disentangled herself from Cloud after a few minutes and came round to meet the rest of the group again.

"So that's it for Kuja," Cloud commented, staring into the Lifestream with a faint touch of sadness breaking through his joy.

"Don't be sad," Aeris said, reaching out for him. "Kuja could have lived if he'd really wanted to. I'm sure wherever he is, he's happy.. him and Sephiroth both,"

"Hey, what's this?" Yuffie asked, pulling a glowing red materia from the side of the lake. " A summon materia!" She exclaimed, staring at the materia with more love than she'd ever shown Reno, the Turk thought resentfully.

Aeris took it and examined it. "I think... I think this will summon Sephiroth and Kuja. If you ever need them," She said slowly. "It's a very powerful materia, Yuffie. Be careful it doesn't fall into the wrong hands,"  
  
"All-RIGHT!" Yuffie yelled. "I bet this could totally waste Knights of the Round!" She clipped it into her shuriken proudly and ran back over to Reno.

"Won't that be dangerous?" Cloud asked Aeris, worried. She shook her head.

"Not with Kuja there too," She answered him. "I'm sure Sephiroth is no danger any more," He took her hand gently and they began to walk back to the Highwind. For the first time since Aeris had died, Cloud felt his broken heart heal.

- - - - - - - - - -

Conclusion.

Aeris and Cloud moved back to Costa Del Sol where Aeris found the climate ideal for growing flowers. She took over the shop in Tifa's place and the pair of them lived a peaceful and content life, raising many children and passing on to the afterlife after many happy years together. They were beloved in the local area and Aeris was always happy to help anyone in trouble.

Tifa and Vincent needed to get away from life for some time while they sorted out their own problems. After a year or so wandering the world, they settled in Wutai after Yuffie joyfully gave up leadership and named the two of them her heirs. They ruled the place better than Yuffie might have done and lived happily enough. Vincent was finally able to forgive himself and found an uneasy kind of peace. Tifa was able to get on with her life knowing Cloud was content. After Tifa passed away at the age of 87, Vincent toyed with thoughts of suicide before joining Red XIII in Cosmos Canyon. His sadness was minimal, knowing Tifa would wait for him in the afterlife. After Red XIII finally died centuries later, he himself would return to the Planet himself and meet them all again.

Rufus and the Turks managed to rebuild Shinra together with the most unlikely assistant- Barret. Despite the resentment many people still bore towards Shinra, once the company was rebuilt it looked into alternative power sources and converted the old reactors, finally convincing the population that Rufus Shinra had changed. It wasn't instant of course- there were even a few assassination attempts, thwarted by Tseng who was as fiercely protective as ever. Thousands of jobs were created with the rise of Shinra and the world was lifted from the primitive state it had plunged into following the end of Mako. A new and better age was born. Barret was named Vice President and under his direction, Corel Town became more prosperous than ever. Rufus and Tseng remained together for the rest of their lives and Rufus never had to hear the Lifestream again, having redeemed himself in the eyes of the Planet. Marlene eventually inherited Shinra when they passed away, and proved to be a born leader.

Cid went back to Rocket Town. Rufus apologetically continued to fund the space programme, much to Cid's delight. He became known as an astronaut as well a pilot, and raised yet more children with Shera. He still couldn't tell them apart.

Red XIII continued to live at his beloved Cosmos Canyon. After the rest of them passed away, Vincent joined him and they spent hundreds of years guarding the canyon. Together the two of them saw off minor threats to the world, although none were ever so dangerous as Sephiroth. Red XIII even found a mate after Marlene (who turned out to be an excellent scientist) found a way to use DNA to reconstruct lost species. He died content knowing his heirs would guard the world after he was at peace.

Yuffie and Reno worked under Shinra as Turks, a job which suited Yuffie's adventurous spirit perfectly. Although Reno knew he came second to materia in Yuffie's heart, they lived a happy life without the responsibility of ruling Wutai. Only once did Yuffie have to use her most deadly summon materia during their somewhat dangerous lifestyle and after her death, it was kept under high security by Shinra. 

The Black Materia was never recovered. Aeris believed it had fallen into the Lifestream and that it was no longer at risk from being used to summon Meteor. Perhaps it was for the best. A thing of such power could not be left for anyone to abuse.

And somewhere in the lifestream- another time, another place, two lost souls found peace with each other at last. They finally discovered what it truly was to live.

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The End.


End file.
